Scientists recently discovered a new species of parasitic wasp, and its way of life is disturbing. New research published this week in Nature describes the species, Syntretus perlmani, as a “parasitoid species,” which means it infects and then kills the host species (unlike most parasitic species, which harm the hosts but don’t necessarily kill them).
The scientists discovered S. perlmani while studying fruit flies in March 2023. LiveScience reports that while collecting wild fruit flies in a Mississippi backyard, they found “a parasitoid wasp larva inside the abdomen of an adult male [fruit fly].” Turns out, the parasitic wasp was a new species.
Other parasitoid wasps infect insects in their larval and pupal phases of life, but this species infects adults. According to Logan Moore, a lead author on the study, “female S. perlmani use their needle-like ovipositor organ — the stinger in stinging wasps — to stab and deposit an egg within a fruit fly’s abdomen. The egg then hatches into a tiny wasp larva, which grows inside the fly for about 18 days before leaving its host for dead.”
When it’s time to emerge, the wasp larva rip through the host’s abdomen—like Alien, but in real life.
“And just to add an additional layer of horror, the fly will normally remain alive for several hours after that,” Moore told LiveScience.
The new wasps go on to create another generation of wasps, infecting another round of fruit flies. Ah, the circle of life.
Learn more by reading the research report here.