In the animal world, brutal laws sometimes prevail: True to the motto “eaten and be eaten”, a newly discovered species of wasp is multiplying.
Bremen – Researchers in the USA have discovered a previously unknown species of wasp. They discovered that the insect reproduces in an extremely cruel way. A similarly sensational discovery was made by scientists who found a 78 million year old dinosaur species.
US researchers discover new species of wasp – it reproduces in the bodies of fruit flies
As the scientific journal Science reported that the new insect species are parasitic wasps. The animals use extremely brutal means to reproduce: the females lay their eggs on or in various members of their species. This has fatal consequences for the latter – after hatching, the young wasps eat their hosts.
The research team from the USA, which discovered the parasitic wasp species, recently published on the portal nature.com a new study about the discovery. According to this, young fruit flies (Drosophila) are the preferred victims of the wasps when it comes to laying eggs. The US scientists named the new wasp species after the renowned parasite researcher Steve Perlman: Syntretus perlmani.
Discovery of “horror wasp” thanks to lucky coincidence – insect parasitizes flies
For the research team, the discovery of the “horror wasp” is a sensation. “Despite a long history of research and a remarkable diversity of species, no wasp species has yet been described that infects and develops into the adult stage of a fly host,” says the scientist from the United States in the study.
The researchers apparently owe their sensational discovery to a happy coincidence. In their study, the scientists describe how they had actually been looking for nematode infections in flies that they had caught in traps in backyards in Mississippi. Finally, to their own surprise, they found an adult male fly with a wasp larva inside its body. Further investigations revealed that each year between 0.5 and three percent of the male flies caught in the traps were parasitized by wasps.
Video shows brutal reproduction in the body of the fruit fly
To confirm these findings, the research team raised some of the wasp larvae and discovered that they actually parasitize adult flies. On X, entomologist Matt Ballinger, who works at Mississippi State University and was involved in the study, published some videos showing how the newly discovered wasps parasitize fruit flies.
Meanwhile, a sensational discovery was recently made in the Atlantic. German researchers discovered a new species of animal there – with two surprising characteristics. (kh)
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