KoC Fact: Stings to the Brain Really Calm Bugs Down!

This beautiful creature is a jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa), aka an emerald cockroach wasp. It is so-called because it attacks insects—usually a type of cockroach called Pariplaneta americana— and stings their brains, then lays eggs inside the still-living cockroach. The young baby jewel wasps live inside the cockroach and control its brain and slowly eat the insides of the cockroach.

EWW! What?!?

I’m sorry you read that, and I’m shocked I was so…so calm about it.

Jewel wasps live all over Africa, South Asia, and the Pacific islands. The female is about 2.2 cm (22 mm) and the male is slightly smaller and lacks a stinger.

The whole “babies control bugs’ brains” thing reminds me a lot of a tropical fungus called Cordyceps, which does exactly the same thing, but it grows out of the insect (usually an ant)’s head. The weird part is that Cordyceps fungi are made into a Chinese soup called “silkie”, which also contains seahorses (Hippocampus).

Did you know there are 54 species of seahorses in the world? Find out more about the dwarf seahorses in the on December 12!