A Syntretus perlmani wasp larva bursts from a fruit fly’s abdomen. “All known parasitoid wasps of flies attack and develop inside immature life stages,” study co-author and Mississippi State ...

The jewel wasp is a parasite with a method so precise it can turn a cockroach into a living host without killing it ...

A parasitic wasp castrates its moth larvae hosts by injecting them with a ‘domesticated’ virus that causes cells in the larvae’s testes to die. Now, scientists know exactly how the virus does its ...

Since their larvae are dependent on the host’s body for their first phase of life, it behooves the wasp to improve conditions in the body in whatever way it can. For example, some parasitic wasps are ...

A light crackling sound floats above a field in northern Switzerland in late summer. Its source is invisible, tucked inside a dead, dried plant stem: a dozen larval mason bees striking the inner walls ...

Few insects strike greater fear into the hearts of orchard-owners than rosy apple aphids. These tiny bugs feed on the leaves of apple trees, draining them of nutrients. Their saliva, meanwhile, ...

It's summer in the northern hemisphere and that means sun, sea—and wasps. This is a worker wasp. She is looking for food to feed to her sibling larvae in her mother's papery looking nest. Is she ...

Some wasp larvae take sibling rivalry to a new level by routinely cannibalising their nestmates. Most wasp and bee larvae grow in individual brood cells within a hive. But solitary wasps like ...

One wasp larva biting another. (Photo courtesy of Yui ImasakiI and Tomoji Endo) (CN) — Cain and Abel. Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth. Liam and Noel Gallagher. Sibling rivalries are as old as ...

Zombies are real – at least, in the insect world. The most famous example is a fungus that controls the minds and bodies of ants to help itself reproduce, but it's not the only thing to use the morbid ...

Talk about a raw deal: deadly parasitic wasps ruin the lives of adolescent spiders by taking over their minds, forcing them to become hermits and then eating them alive. A remarkable species of social ...

Appearance: Slender body is brownish-red with bold yellow and orange markings. Long antennae. Females are 2 inches long, with a 3-4 inch-long ovipositor used to drill deeply into wood and lay eggs.