An orb-weaving spider (Cyclosa argenteoalba) with a parasitic ichneumon wasp (Reclinervellus nielseni) on its backKEIZO TAKASUKA
Scientists have uncovered more detail about the unique relationship between the parasitic ichneumon wasp (Reclinervellus nielseni) and its arachnid host, the orb-weaving spider (Cyclosa argenteoalba). While the spider carries the wasp’s egg—and later, hatched larva—within its abdomen, the arachnid spins an atypical web, according to a study published last month (August 5) in The Journal of Experimental Biology. When the larva emerges, killing the spider host, the wasp uses the modified webbing to build a cocoon.
“This discovery—of enhanced behavior as opposed to merely switched behavior—is completely new, impressively demonstrated, and rather unexpected I think,” Mark Shaw an entomologist at the National Museum of Scotland, who was not involved in the study, told Newsweek.
According to The Verge, scientists from Kobe University in Japan along ...
