Palaeontology

Terrifying prehistoric parasitic wasp used its butt to snatch victims

By T.K. Randall
April 6, 2025 ·  2 comments

A close-up image of the wasp trapped in amber. Image Credit: Qiong Wu et al. As if today's wasps weren't bad enough, imagine being an insect back during the mid-Cretaceous period, minding your own business when all of a sudden, a wasp with a Venus flytrap built into its abdomen suddenly grabs you with its rear end and lays its eggs inside your body.

Meet Sirenobethylus charybdis - a terrifying parasitic wasp from a long-extinct lineage that was recently discovered perfectly preserved in amber in the Kachin region of northern Myanmar.

The wasp's peculiar abdominal structure is unlike anything seen on insects today and was likely used to grab and hold its victims still while it laid its eggs.When the eggs hatched, the young larvae would have fed on the host insect until they reached maturity.

Scientists believe that the wasp's unique appendage probably helped it to grab hold of flying or jumping insects that would otherwise be too fast or agile to catch.

Perhaps fortunately, Sirenobethylus charybdis went extinct long ago and although parasitic wasps do exist in the modern world, there is no direct equivalent to this terrifying prehistoric species.

Source: Scitech Daily | Comments (2)

Tags: Wasps