CANADA: A ruthless breed of wasp has the ability to ‘zombify’ their spider prey, forcing the arachnids to build homes for their young.
Once the ‘incredibly strong’ webs are complete, the helpless zombie spiders are disemboweled and eaten by the wasp’s larva.
A new study has revealed the Reclinervellus Nielseni wasp – which lives in Australia and Japan – uses poison to overcome the nervous system of spiders and take control of their bodies.
The groundbreaking research, published by researchers from Kobe University in southern Japan, details one of the most brutal acts of host manipulation by a parasite ever recorded.
The wasps hijack the Cyclosa argenteoalba breed of spider’s nervous system by laying eggs on their victim’s body which release ‘a manipulative substance’ which they believe is a hormone.
Keizo Takasuka and the other researchers write that ‘the manipulative substance may react with the spider’s endocrine system,’ leading to their intense web-building ability.
The wasp-infected spiders worked for around 10 hours to build a web which was up to 40 times stronger than the it’s usual webs.
Once this was built, the wasp larvae used a cocoon in the centre of the web to pupate, and then drain their blood and intestines from the body from their ill-fated hosts, putting them out of their misery.
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