A Parasitoid Wasp Manipulates the Drive for Walking of Its C

A Parasitoid Wasp Manipulates the Drive for Walking of Its Cockroach Prey
Ram Gal and Frederic Libersat, Current Biology 18, pp. 877-882 (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.04.076)

The movie (adapted from "The wasp Ampulex compressa, a predator of the cockroach Periplaneta americana" by Wijnand Heitmans; University of Amsterdam, 1986) shows the main events in the life cycle of A. compressa and the manipulation of its cockroach host.
(1) Struggle: A parasitoid wasp locates a cockroach and grabs it by the pronotum. (2) Head sting: The wasp injects a venom cocktail into the prey's cerebral ganglia. The cockroach shown here was anaesthetized and tethered to allow filming from below. (3) Host feeding: The wasp cuts the cockroach's antennae and feeds off hemolymph from the cut end. Notice that the cockroach does not escape the wasp, although it is not paralyzed. (4) Host transportation: The wasp grabs the cockroach by the antenna stump and walks backward toward its nest, while the cockroach follows in a docile manner. Notice the expression of an alternating-tripod gait when the cockroach is following the wasp. (5) Host concealment: The cockroach is inserted into the wasp's nest without resisting or trying to escape. (6) Oviposition: The wasp lays one egg on the cockroach leg and exits the nest. The cockroach stays at the same spot, although it is not paralyzed. (7) Entombment: The wasp collects nearby pieces of paper and seals the entrance to the nest, while the cockroach waits inside. (8) Egg and larval development: A larva hatches from the egg, feeds on hemolymph (not shown), then penetrates the cockroach and consumes the internal organs. It is only at this stage that the cockroach dies and the larva pupates inside the cockroach abdomen. (9) Hatching: around 40 days after the egg has been laid, an adult wasp hatches from the cockroach's abdomen and exits the nest.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Insects

[vr00m123]

She's just using you, man.

[d983394]

I don't know about intelligent, this isn't something they learn, it's just instinct, they're born knowing how to do it. I don't think any insects display what could be called "intelligence"

[letsomethingshine]

Isn't Natural Selection just wonderful... we gotta watch out for that wasp, you never know when it will stop hunting roaches and look for animals such as humans for its babies to feed off of. Good thing natural selection also has us killing such human-eating babies so they can't pass on their human hunting genes.

[xenomorphelv426]

Alien !



[lordsong7]

@d983394

What is instinct?

If this kind of behavior is not caused by the insects own intelligence (they do have brains) then in any case it certainly displays an enormous amount of engineering and design with a clear goal to be able to accomplish something like this..

I.e. That's some incredibly smart "instinct" !

[sheepburn]

@d983394 Okay, got it.  I just misinterpreted what you were saying from your line about how higher thought is exclusive to humans.

[d983394]

@sheepburn ok I never said that humans were the only ones who could reason or think, I just said this insect cant

[sheepburn]

@d983394 and by that, I mean that, over millions of years, another animal species could come to dominate the planet and begin centralizing, expanding, etc... and further develop itself until it resembles what we have. I don't mean to say that dolphins are currently equal to us, I'm just saying that it is false to assume animals cannot think and reason, many of them do so already. It looks similar to what "humanity" looked like millions of years ago. We didn't happen to dominate overnight.

[sheepburn]

@d983394 Many behaviors are "learned" through evolution and biology, not from environment or education, so you are right they aren't planning it. But, you are wrong to suggest humans are the only species in their "class" of "higher thought." Many animals do possess the ability to think and feel. Human exceptionalism is a myth, even if we HAVE developed further as a species it does not mean we have innate superiority to reason and think. Theoretically, for example, dolphins are just as capable

[tehhhhhd]

@d983394 And what does our thinking help us do? That's right. Get smarter.... Survive. We're just intelligent enough to be aware of it.

[borowski84]

damn !!

[adonisiegfried]

this video is super-interesting. I was just reading the wikipage for the cockroach and ended here.