At the Zombie Cockroach Buffet, Bring Your Own Antibiotics Meet the jewel wasp. This gorgeous, iridescent creature belies its gem-like appearance with a habit that, on the surface, is downright revolting: It turns cockroaches into mind-controlled zombies, chemically hypnotizing them in order to provide a helpless, living food source for the wasp’s young. In short, it injects the cockroach brain with a neurochemical cocktail that, instead of killing it, forces the roach to surrender itself to the wasp’s will. It steals the zombie roach away to its burrow, where it lays its egg. That egg grows into a larvae that feeds inside the still-living roach, its prey trapped in a chemical noose that prevents it from escaping even as it is eaten from within. Cool, huh?  Well, new research paints the picture a bit cooler. Cockroaches are filthy places, unsurprisingly. They harbor bacteria within them that could kill the young larvae, zombie host or not. It turns out that the young wasps secrete intense antimicrobial chemicals to keep their zombie roach buffet clean and disinfected. The research involved one of the coolest tools I’ve ever heard of: Tiny windows were inserted in the roaches so the larvae could be observed!! Want more detail on this squeaky clean zombie tale? Check out Carl Zimmer at The Loom, Ed Yong at Nature News, or Christie Wilcox at Science Sushi. Now where’s that alcohol gel? … I’m hungry.
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At the Zombie Cockroach Buffet, Bring Your Own Antibiotics

Meet the jewel wasp. This gorgeous, iridescent creature belies its gem-like appearance with a habit that, on the surface, is downright revolting: It turns cockroaches into mind-controlled zombies, chemically hypnotizing them in order to provide a helpless, living food source for the wasp’s young.

In short, it injects the cockroach brain with a neurochemical cocktail that, instead of killing it, forces the roach to surrender itself to the wasp’s will. It steals the zombie roach away to its burrow, where it lays its egg. That egg grows into a larvae that feeds inside the still-living roach, its prey trapped in a chemical noose that prevents it from escaping even as it is eaten from within.

Cool, huh? 

Well, new research paints the picture a bit cooler. Cockroaches are filthy places, unsurprisingly. They harbor bacteria within them that could kill the young larvae, zombie host or not. It turns out that the young wasps secrete intense antimicrobial chemicals to keep their zombie roach buffet clean and disinfected.

The research involved one of the coolest tools I’ve ever heard of: Tiny windows were inserted in the roaches so the larvae could be observed!!

Want more detail on this squeaky clean zombie tale? Check out Carl Zimmer at The Loom, Ed Yong at Nature News, or Christie Wilcox at Science Sushi. Now where’s that alcohol gel? … I’m hungry.

383 Notes/ Hide

  1. parasitesfuckyeah reblogged this from fuckyeahparasites
  2. naturalborncoward reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  3. doo-da-diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-doo reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  4. halffinger1 reblogged this from beneath-my-tree
  5. beneath-my-tree reblogged this from moreanimalia
  6. moreanimalia reblogged this from theexoticvet and added:
    o.o
  7. fdofiyero reblogged this from owakura
  8. confessionsfirstyearteacher reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    This is honestly one of the coolest things ever.
  9. gardenweta reblogged this from viscera-bouquet
  10. oneheadtoanother reblogged this from sagansense
  11. rheodry reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
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  13. tarlkhir reblogged this from theexoticvet
  14. theexoticvet reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    kC
  15. scienceing reblogged this from sagansense
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  17. cmartemis14 reblogged this from somuchscience
  18. specialk1003 reblogged this from sagansense
  19. satoeasy reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  20. jenawithonen reblogged this from marooncruiser and added:
    i dont usually say ‘holy fuck’ but HOLY FUCK bugs are gross
  21. marooncruiser reblogged this from somuchscience and added:
    Tiny windows were inserted in the roaches so the larvae could be observed TINY ROACH WINDOWS this is amazing
  22. thatswhatimherefor reblogged this from somuchscience and added:
    Anything that kills a roach is a friend in my book.
  23. x3shapedcoffin reblogged this from viscera-bouquet
  24. viscera-bouquet reblogged this from somuchscience
  25. fuckyeahparasites reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
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  28. noiseymuse reblogged this from tigerwhitecircle
  29. themudsharkincident reblogged this from somuchscience and added:
    See? Never trust a brightly colored insect. It will turn you into a zombie and have its babies inside you, and that just...
  30. cryrabbitcry reblogged this from somuchscience
  31. tigerwhitecircle reblogged this from somuchscience
  32. psychedelicpeanutbutter reblogged this from somuchscience

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