Day 14: Voodoo Wasps

Glyptapanteles, voodoo wasp, is a genus of endoparasitoid wasp found in Central and North America and New Zealand. The parasitoid wasp lays its eggs, about 80, 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 themselves up in a cocoon. The larvae of the wasps then manipulate their host into watching over them as a mother or bodyguard might. The caterpillar stays alive until the adult wasps hatch.