Horrifying Emerald Wasps, Nightmares with Cockroaches

By the time the cockroach finished cleaning its body, the emerald wasp's venom had completely taken over its will. The cockroach was now extremely obedient, following the wasp into a small underground hole dug by the wasp.

The emerald wasp , scientific name Ampulex compressa, is a hymenopteran species in the family Ampulicidae, genus Ampulex.

To humans, this wasp has almost no impact, nor is it known as a dangerous animal. However, to cockroaches, the emerald wasp is a real nightmare.

For cockroaches, the emerald ash wasp is a living nightmare.

The emerald wasp is precisely a parasitic wasp, using the bodies of cockroaches to grow and develop.

To do that, the emerald wasps will approach and enslave the cockroaches.

After subduing the cockroach, the wasp injects venom precisely into the cockroach's specific lymph node twice. The initial sting is to a thoracic lymph node and injects venom to slightly paralyze the forelegs of its victim.

The cockroach's temporary inability to move allows the wasp to inject a second venom at a precise location in the victim's cerebellum (brain), in the part that controls the escape reflex.

As a result of these two stings, the cockroach will first become lethargic, and then become sluggish and unable to exhibit the normal escape response.

The cockroach then enters a semi-conscious state, meticulously cleaning its antennae and front legs while the wasp prepares to lay eggs.

Some experts believe that stimulating the cockroach to clean itself is to ensure a clean, bacteria-free host, limiting damage to the wasp larvae. Others think it is simply a way to keep the cockroach busy and distracted while the wasp digs a hole to bury the cockroach alive.

By the time the cockroach finished cleaning its body, the emerald wasp's venom had completely taken over its will. The cockroach was now extremely obedient, following the wasp into a small underground hole dug by the wasp.

Wasp larvae hatch and live for 4-5 days on the cockroach.

Inside the burrow, the dreaded wasp lays a single white egg, about 2mm long, on the cockroach's abdomen. It then exits and blocks the entrance to the burrow with pebbles, not to prevent the cockroach from escaping but to keep other predators from snatching it away.

With its escape reflex disabled, the poor cockroach simply becomes a living corpse, lying in the burrow with the wasp egg when it hatches about 3 days later. The wasp larva hatches and lives for 4-5 days on the cockroach, after which it bites through the wasp's abdomen and lives as a parasite there.

Over a period of eight days, the wasp larvae consume the internal organs of the cockroach in an order that maximizes the chances that the cockroach will survive, at least until the larvae enter the pupal stage and form a cocoon inside the cockroach's body. Eventually, the adult wasp emerges from the cockroach's body to begin its adult life, completing its gruesome life cycle.