Holotype Sirenobetylus charibdis. Credit: Qiong Wu
The demanding line of the parasitic wasp from the center of the fret and preserved in amber could use a belly just like Venus to capture and immobilize its victim.
Tests, published IN Bmc biology, He states that the specimens of the Syrenobetyl Charybdis – named for Monster Sea in Greek mythology, which swallowed and thrown water thrice a day – dates almost 99 million years ago and might represent a brand new insect family.
The morphology of S. Charybdis indicates that wasps were parasites – insects whose larvae live as parasites and ultimately kill their hosts. Contemporary parasites of the Chrysidoidea overwhelm include wasps from cuckoo and wasp of betylids. However, the specimens of S. Charybdis have a singular pattern of veins in the rear wing, which suggests that the species belongs to their circle of relatives, Syrenobetylidae.
Tiaping Gao, Lars Vilhelmsen and colleagues with Capital Normal University, China and the Museum of Natural History of Denmark used micro-cit scanning to research 16 women S. Charybdis preserved in amber dated from 98.79 million years ago. These samples were collected from the Kachin region in North Burma.
They discovered that the species was probably kinobiont – a parasite that enables the host to proceed growing during feeding. Osa samples have a abdominal apparatus consisting of three flaps, the lower of which creates a bladed -shaped structure with a dozen hair -like hair, visually paying homage to the plant Flytrap Venus.
The authors note that the abdominal apparatus of S. Charybdis is different than in the case of any known insect and will function a mechanism of temporary restriction of the host when laying eggs.
Because the wasp probably was unable to pursue the victims over long distances, they speculate that he would wait with the open camera to make the potential host activate his captivation response.
The authors imagine that the complicated gripping apparatus has allowed S. Charybdis to deal with highly mobile victims, reminiscent of small, winged or jumping insects.
The preserved samples suggest that Chrysidoidea showed a wider range of parasite strategies in the central cretical period than their contemporary counterparts.
More information:
Lars Vilhelmsen, a chalk flip trap? Unusual belly modification in the fossil axis, BMC Biology (2025). Two: 10.1186/S12915-025-02190-2. www.biomedcentral.com/articles … 6/S12915-025-02190-2
Quote: The ancient parasitic wasp “Venus Flytrap” preserved in amber reveals parasite strategies (2025, 26 March) recovered on March 27, 2025 with https://phys.org/news/2025-03-antcient-paraSitic-venus-flytap-wasp.html
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