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This is how the researchers imagine that the wasp may have looked. It is the part at the back that was opened. The hairs may have been used to feel as the victim approached, as the eyes are directed elsewhere.
1 / 3foto: Xiaoran Zuo / Nature
An ancient curse could open its tail like a carnivorous plant, and in this way catch hosts to parasitize. It shows a new Danish-Chinese study where amber finds of the new species were investigated.
The fly or grasshoppan did not imagine what would happen. When it landed on the wasp’s flower -like surface, the trap struck again – and before it managed to escape, its body had been injected by wasp eggs.
So the researchers imagine that the unique wasphonan acted on the basis of 16 females perpetuated in amber 98.79 million years ago, during the chalk period
– It was absolutely incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it. As with all research discovers, it took some time before it dropped, says Lars Vilhelmsen at the State Natural History Museum in Copenhagen.
Thought “wow”
He and colleagues at the CNU university in Beijing have examined the findings with the help of micro -lay x -ray.
– When I first saw this lump at the end of the body, I thought it must be an air bubble. But when I checked a few copies, I thought “wow”. I have studied insects for 30 years and have never seen anything like it.
The wasp’s tail was opened with three tabs, and looked much like a carnivorous plant. Probably it struck again when an unsuspecting insect settled.
– You don’t have to devour full values to put the egg in it, you just have to keep it still long enough to get it, he says.
If the wasp’s body visually looked like a flower, or if it used scent or color to attract its victims, the researchers do not know. But probably it was not fast enough to chase its prey, but acted more like a trap.
Was eaten up from the inside
The egg or eggs that were injected were later hatched in the host after it moved, and ate it from inside.
Some males have not been found.
– They may have lived in another environment, where they were not as likely to be preserved as the females, says Vilhelmsen.
Factalvde at the same time as dinosaurs
The researchers have described the waspart Sirenobethylus Charybdis, who lived during the chalk period, at the same time as dinosaurs as a spy saurus.
The researchers have examined 16 females that were perpetuated in amber with the help of micro -lay x -ray. The finds were made in today’s Myanmar.
The rear of the insect consisted of three parts that could be folded up, which has no equivalent in the insect world. Among the finds are both open and closed copies. The researchers believe that they were used to catch victims (other insects) to inject them with eggs.
The study is published in the journal BioMed Central
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