A recently identified parasite wasp, which had zombie and flying among the dinosaurs 99 million years ago, developed a bizarre mechanism to capture other creatures and force them to involuntarily shelter their puppies, according to a new research.
Paleontologists studied 16 specimens of the little amber -preserved wasp, dating from the Cretaceous period, previously discovered in Myanmar. The species hitherto unknown, now called SIRENOBETYLUS CHARYBDIShad a structure similar to dioneia, a carnivorous plant, in its abdomen that could allow the capture of other insects, the researchers reported on Thursday in BMC Biology magazine.
“When I observed the first specimen, I noticed this expansion at the tip of the abdomen, and thought it should be an air bubble. It is very common to see air bubbles around amber specimens,” said study co -author Lars Vilhelmsen, a specialist in wasp and curator of the Denmagan Natural History Museum in Copenhagen.
“But then I examined some more specimens and went back to the first. That was really part of the animal.”
Vilhelmsen and his colleagues from the Normal University of the Capital in Beijing determined that the structure was mobile because it was preserved in different positions in different specimens. “Sometimes the lower tab, as we call it, is open, and sometimes it is closed,” said Vilhelmsen. “It was clearly a mobile structure and something that was used to grab something.”
The nearest comparison found in nature today is dioneia, a carnivorous plant with articulated leaves that close when the prey flies in, according to the new study.
“There is no way to know how an insect lived who died 100 million years ago. So you are looking for analogues in the modern insect fauna. We have something between wasps or other groups that looks like it?” He explained. “There is no real analog among insects. We had to go completely out of the animal kingdom to the plant kingdom to find something that remotely resembled it.”
However, the researchers concluded that the wasp probably did not intend to kill with the bizarre grab’s structure. Instead, they theorized that the wasp injected eggs into the bound body before releasing it, using the creature as an involuntary host for its eggs. His larvae then began his lives as parasites inside or over the host’s body and probably ended up eating the host entirely, Vilhelmsen said. The host was probably a flying insect similar to the wasp, he added.
Similar behavior, although not identical, was observed between vivid species of parasitoid wasps. For example, a group of wasps known as cuco wasps lay their eggs in the nest of another wasp, and the larvae feed on the puppies of their new hosts after hatching.
Amber fossils offer a tridimensional view of the distant past. In addition to plants and flowers, a dinosaur tail, a crab, an infernal ant, a mother spider and her puppies, and a firefly were found buried in tree resin blood cells.
A fossil enthusiast bought the amber containing SIRENOBETYLUS CHARYBDISwhich came from the Kachin region of Myanmar near the China border, several years ago and donated him to the key to the evolution of insects and environmental changes of the normal University of the capital in 2016, the authors said.
Ambar fossils have been some of the most exciting discoveries of paleontology in recent years, but ethical concerns about the region’s provenance have emerged, with some paleontologists asking for a moratorium on myanmar -originating amber research after a 2021 military coup.
“Cretaceous weird”
The “weird of the Cretaceous” SIRENOBETYLUS CHARYBDIS It is added to a growing list of insects from that time that “they had adaptations that are outside the boundaries of the creatures that are alive today,” said Phil Barden, an associate professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology who worked with amber fossils.
“This is significant because there are about one million known species of insects-even with all this living diversity, there are still many unexpected surprises in the fossil record that are beyond imagination,” said Barden, who did not participate in the study by email.
“There seems to be clear evidence that the abdominal components would have had amplitude of motion. There are also several bristles, or hair, which seem to be in the correct position to detect hosts and potentially immobilize them,” said Barden. He said it is possible that biological structures may have had another purpose, such as detecting prey on the ground or perhaps even carrying baby wasps.
“Today, thousands of parasitoid wasp species are capable of immobilizing hosts without abdominal grip. Why could these wasps not simply trust their stingers or incorporate their oral parts in the capture of hosts how do living species do?” Asked Barden.
Vilhelmsen said a key factor in the interpretation of the fossil by his colleagues was the location of the wasp egg posture organ-right next to the structure similar to a trap. However, all specimens of SIRENOBETYLUS CHARYBDIS Examined so far they are female wasps, and so the researchers could not rule out that the structure could have played a role during mating, according to the study.
“This is something unique, something I never expected to see, and something I couldn’t even imagine would be found,” Vilhelmsen said. “It’s 10 of 10.”
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This content was originally published in a bizarre creature 99 million years ago is found in amber; See at CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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