How roaches fight off wasps that turn their victims into zombies

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-roaches-fight-wasps-turn-their-victims-zombies

In recent research, it has been found that emerald jewel wasps sting and paralyze roaches, turning them into zombies and eventually burying them alive. The wasps sting the roaches twice in approximately 11 seconds, once on the back of the neck and once on their throats, and they are left with zombie roaches that the wasps lead by holding on to their antenna. The wasps then lay eggs on top of the roaches and bury them in the ground, and the roaches are used as live meat for the larva.

This is a really interesting article, because most roaches are utterly defenseless and are controlled by the wasps in only 11 seconds. Some roaches have the ability to fight back and attack them with their legs, but full grown roaches are usually the only ones that are able to escape. This is an amazing discovery, and it will be interesting to see if wasps use this tactic on other insects.

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 15, 2018 at 6:55 AM

    I find this article to be extremely interesting as well. I am highly intrigued by the intelligence and mental capabilities of these wasps. I am not a fan of cockroaches in the slightest, so I am a huge supporter of team wasp in this scenario. However, I do not like wasps at all either so I guess they are just the lesser of the two evils.

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