Endoparasitoid wasps sound like the stuff of a horror movie: These parasites are born in and grow inside another animal, killing it as they emerge. It's a brutal way to live, but evidently an effective one. Now, a new study offers insight into the history of this particularly garish form of parasitism.

These wasps lay their eggs inside their host using organs known as ovipositors, which are shaped like tubes. The eggs mature inside their victim, keeping them alive so they can harvest their resources. Once the eggs fully mature, the host has lost its usefulness. The babies burst out and kill the host, ready to begin the cycle again. Some species are able to fully control their hosts from the inside, forcing cockroaches or spiders to create environments best for their offspring.

The new study looks at samples which date back to the 19th century when three-dimensionally preserved mineralized arthropods were discovered during a mining excavation in the Quercy region of South-Central France. The 19th century remains were examined in 1944 by Swiss entomologist Eduard Handschin, who found the remains to be mainly fly pupae, but had noted a parasitoid wasp inside one of them.

it wasn't until decades later in 2016 that entomologist Thomas van de Kamp was able to acquire 29 of these pupae for scanning and subject them to 21st century imaging technology. As van de Kamp writes in a blog post for Nature:

"I remember when I was sitting at the imaging beamline of the KIT light source carefully observing X-ray projections during acquisition. I admit I was already a little bit bored after nine scans revealed nothing but stone.

Then scan No. 10 happened. A parasitoid! As Handschin deduced more than 70 years ago from a faint silhouette, which just as well could be merely an artifact. The wasp literally stared at me from the screen."

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Since the first discovery, van de Kamp began scanning more fossils Handschin had left in various Swedish natural history museums. The results showed four new species.

"The most numerous species was named 'Xenomorphia resurrecta',” van de Kamp says, a reference to the chestbursters of Alien fame. A fitting name, given how theses fossils, after lying dormant for so many years, have burst back onto the scientific scene like the wasps would have erupted from their host's bodies so many million years ago.

Source: New York Times



This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io