Parasitic wasps turn spiders into zombie construction workers. The spiders build delicate round webs to catch prey. But that changes after an adult R. nielseni wasp stings a spider, paralyzing its ...

Many insects make cocoons when they are young to protect themselves from the big, bad world, full of predators (and cable news channels). Ichneumon wasps have a found a way to make this process easier ...

There’s nothing subtle about the way in which the Reclinervellus nielseni wasp larva takes control of the Cyclosa argenteoalba spider’s nervous system. First, an adult female wasp must attack a spider ...

If a ladybug's life were a horror film, this is how it would start: Scary string music. A close-up of the green-eyed face of a wasp. The sudden pierce of a stinger. The screen goes dark. Next, an ...

A wasp larva injects a spider with a web-altering drug, driving the spider to spin a shelter just right for a wasp cocoon. It’s “probably the most finely directed alteration of behavior ever ...

A new species of parasitoid wasp that constructs remarkable star-shaped cocoon masses is reported from the biodiversity hot spot Ryukyu Islands. Researchers observed how the wasps construct 'stars' ...

Beewolves house beneficial bacteria on their cocoons that guarantee protection against harmful microorganisms. Scientists have discovered that bacteria of the genus Streptomyces produce a cocktail of ...