From the “You can’t make this shit up” files, a team of scientists from the University of Amsterdam have discovered a parasitoid wasp that can somehow manipulate caterpillars into protect them.
An adult wasp will lay its eggs into the poor sucker and once they hatch the larvae begin to feed on their host. Once they develop to a certain point they break out of the caterpillar to cocoon themselves into a cluster nearby.
And this is where things get a little creepy. The caterpillar, still alive, stands sentinel over the cocooned larvae, protecting it from potential threats. It doesn’t leave, it doesn’t eat, it doesn’t rest. All it will do is loom over the clutch of cocoons and if anything comes too close it will shakes it’s upper half wildly until the threat is gone.
“We don’t know exactly what kills the caterpillars, but it is fascinating that the moment of death seems to be tuned to the duration of the wasp’s pupal stage,” says Arne Janssen of the University of Amsterdam.
What we have here folks are ZOMBIE CATERPILLARS.
You can read more about this unholy practice at New Scientist. In the meantime here’s a video demonstration of the zombie caterpillar.
Zombie Caterpillar from Science News on Vimeo.
0 Responses to “Zombie Caterpillars”