The Parasitic Nature of the Emerald Jewel Wasp

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            Since I was young, I have always had a grudging interest in wasps. They were a fascinating group of insects made all the more so by the danger they presented. This intrigue was once again peaked in my adult life when I found out that some in the suborder Apocrita (wasp-waisted) deposit their eggs in/on the bodies of other insects to provide food for their larvae, often without killing the host until the larvae get hungry that is. Some parasitoid wasps have a way manipulating the host in various ways to make it more pleasant for their ravenous offspring. A standout example is particularly gruesome emerald jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa), which zombifies cockroaches into the perfect food for their young.

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 The horror show starts when a female emerald jewel wasp finds itself cockroach of suitable size. It must sting the roach in the twice. The first sting paralyzes the roach to prevent it from moving, but it is not an easy mark. The wasp must stab the roach directly in the first thoracic ganglion for the venom to take full effect (Catrina, 2021). The next sting goes from the underside of the throat directly to the brain (Catrina, 2021), turning the cockroach from an aggressive opponent into a passive host. The emerald jewel wasp then leaves the now zombified roach to find a place to entomb it. Once the wasp has found the perfect place it returns to its witless victim. The wasp then removes both antennae from the cockroach then sucks blood from the severed stumps for nourishment (Catrina, 2021). After gorging itself on cockroach blood, the wasp shepherds the roach to it tomb. An egg is planted on the underside of the second pair of legs. The wasp then blocks the entrance to the tomb with nearby debris and leaves the cockroach to its fate. When the eggs hatch, the larva will slowly burrow into the cockroach through soft tissues near the leg, if the parent was even slightly off in the placement of the egg, the larva will fail to reach the soft tissue and die (Catrina, 2021). The cockroach, meanwhile, can do nothing but sit and wait while the larva picks clean its internal organs (Simon, 2014). The parasite saves the nervous system for last which finally kills the roach (Simon, 2014). The Larvae then sprays antimicrobial fluid in the now empty shell and spins a cocoon (Simon, 2014). It will rest here for forty to sixty days after which it matures into an adult (Catrina, 2021). Once mature it will break open the shell that contained it for so long and move into the world where it give rise to the next generation parasitoid wasps.

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Image from The epic, absurdly complex battle between a zombie maker and its victim.

The emerald jewel wasp has one of the most impressive and complicated methods for reproduction I have ever known. It boggles the mind thinking about the evolutionary steps that were taken for achieve such a system. It needs sting, zombify, entomb, and lay eggs all on one cockroach to ensure the propagation of future wasps. Though disturbing, I find the emerald jewel wasps method of reproduction to be one of the most intriguing in the animal kingdom.

Bibliography

Catania, K. C. (2021, February 1). The epic, absurdly complex battle between a zombie maker and its victim. Scientific American. Retrieved May 19, 2022, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-epic-absurdly-complex-battle-between-a-zombie-maker-and-its-victim/

Simon, M. (2014, February 28). Absurd creature of the week: The wasp that enslaves cockroaches with a sting to the brain. Wired. Retrieved May 19, 2022, from https://www.wired.com/2014/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-jewel-wasp/

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