A Rather Interesting article on the insane adaptations achieved by the Trichogrammatids

"Thrips are tiny insects, typically just a millimetre in length. Some are barely half that size. If that’s how big the adults are, imagine how small a thrips’ egg must be. Now, consider that there are insects that lay their eggs inside the egg of a thrips."

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After I logged off my Hotmail account, I had just came across this blog entry on MSN.ca.( Read more... )

This is a few years old, but it's the first I've seen it.

Back in 2006, giant yellow jacket nests started turning up in the southeast United States. These were in Alabama. Google turns up articles about similar discoveries in Florida and Georgia. Scientists believe milder winters prevented the wasps from freezing and increased their food supply ( Read more... )

Hi I've just joined after lurking for a few weeks - what a great community.

I read about this in the latest issue of New Scientist and thought it might be of interest here (hopefully it hasn't been previously posted):

Click to view

Sorry if this was posted before, but it's definitely worth looking at. It will probably give you bad dreams.

http://www.cracked.com/article_15816_5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-world.html

Just something neat my friend showed me.

Click to view

And Ichneumons wasp, also known as a stump stabber. She lays her eggs via a long tube (ovipositor) she stabs into the bark of a tree.
Something I'm curious about, what is the bubble that forms right before she removes the ovipositor?

(The sound is the camera, by the way)

Do you feel that somehow an irrational attachment has been implanted in you by a malign parasitic entity that will one day cause your destruction, but you are helpless to resist its control over your brain? Well, then perhaps you are a caterpillar.


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A friend sent this to me.  I somewhat wish he hadn't.  It's fairly creepy and makes you wonder what bugs could do to us if one day they realized they outnumbered us by A LOT.
The Wisdom of Parasites

Category: The Parasite Files
Posted on: February 2, 2006 9:43 AM, by Carl Zimmer


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I can't put it any better than the article.

The parasitoid wasp Glyptapanteles lays its eggs, about 80 at a time, in young geometrid caterpillars. The eggs hatch and the larvae feed on the caterpillar's body fluids. When they are fully developed, they eat through the caterpillar's skin, attach themselves to a nearby branch or leaf and wrap ( Read more... )

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