Ancient parasitic 'Venus flytrap' wasp found preserved in amber
An extinct species of parasitic wasp dating back nearly 99 million years was found preserved in amber, according to researchers.
Specimens of Sirenobethylus charybdis, or S. charybdis, named after the Greek mythological sea monster Charybdis, would use their Venus flytrap-like abdomen to capture and immobilize their prey, according to a paper published Wednesday in BMC Biology.
Researchers at the Natural History Museum of Denmark and Capital Normal University in China analyzed 16 female specimens preserved in amber using micro-CT scanning. They estimate the specimens, collected from the Kachin region in northern Myanmar, date to 98.79 million years ago during the mid-Cretaceous period.
The morphology of the wasps indicates that they were parasitoids, or insects whose larvae live as parasites inside their hosts before eventually killing them, the researchers said. The wasps likely allowed their host to continue growing while feeding on it.
The species' lower abdomen forms a paddle-shaped structure with a dozen hair-like bristles, reminiscent of a Venus flytrap plant, according to the paper. The three-flap abdominal apparatus may have served as a mechanism to temporarily restrain the host during egg-laying, the researchers said.
S. charybdis was likely unable to pursue prey over long distances, and the researchers speculate that they waited with the apparatus open for a potential host before activating the capture response.
Its abdomen is unlike that of any known insect, according to the paper.
The "elaborate" grasping apparatus likely allowed the species to snag highly mobile prey, such as winged or jumping insects, the researchers said.
Cuckoo wasps and bethylid wasps are modern-day parasitoids within the same superfamily, Chrysidoidea, according to the paper.
A unique pattern of veins in the hind wing of the extinct S. charybdis also suggests that the species may belong to its own family, the Sirenobethylidae, the researchers said.
