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This image shows one of
the new species Apanteles albanjimenezi, named after the parataxonomist
Alban Jiménez in recognition of his diligent efforts for the ACG
Programa de Educacion Biológica
Credit: José Fernández-Triana; CC-BY 4.0
5 comments:
When I was reading the article I found a video of the larva eating their way out of a caterpillar. While i was watching I realized that they must be immune to the internal chemicals of a caterpillar. I found this very interesting and started to wonder if the caterpillar could do this. I mean this as human's stomach chemicals are strong enough that they would burn our intestines if not for the stomach's protective coating. i wonder if caterpillars are immune to their own chemicals because when I was watching the video I saw that they are manly just a bunch of chemical goop. Open realizing this I decided that the wasp must use the chemical as a food source. Overall, I found this article extremely interesting
This is nasty!!!!!!! I also saw the video. It is also very interesting that there were so many different types of new wasps. I also cant believe that they actually can kill people. I also feel really really bad for the caterpillar. The wasps actually inject their larvae into the caterpillar. I also wonder why they use a caterpillar among any other animal. Overall, this article was really cool.
I thought that this article was really interesting. At first, I thought that the wasps would be bad for us, but then I realized that they’re really beneficial for us, and bad for caterpillars. I found a website about wasps here: http://www.drmcbug.com/parasitic.htm
However, the most cool (but scary) part for me was the video on there. It’s called “Body Invaders”. It shows a caterpillar that had been infected by parasitic wasps. (I think Shirell already mentioned it). It was really amazing. However, I have a few questions. First of all, what is the virus that infects the caterpillar? As I looked this up, I found that the virus is called a Polydnavirus. From my understanding, old viruses can integrate into the genome of a cell and benefit the wasp. When the eggs are injected, this virus comes with it. Apparently, the virus doesn’t affect the wasp much. This makes a lot of sense. I still have one more question, however. What would happen if a parasitic wasp injected its larvae into a human? I couldn’t find much in research, but I think that they probably wouldn’t survive. First of all, our skin is too thick for the larvae to saw through. Also, they are probably more accustomed to the body of a caterpillar. However, I’ll have to research it more. Another thing that I thought was interesting was that a couple blogs ago, we were discussing caterpillar’s defense. However, now, it is the caterpillars being attacked.
I found this article to be very interesting because it can teach you about new amazing species that mother nature keeps bringing us. I loved the pictures although they were intense. They were super cool, but very intimidating. The first description on the article (about the burring of eggs) was gruesome, but also interesting to learn about. I am very interested in this topic because I find it interesting that a single wasp sting can kill a human being. I thought that it was super cool to watch the video, but I did find it a bit gruesome. I totally agree with Rachel about how this was a bit or a LOT nasty. Although I enjoyed reading I wished that this article would go into more depth about where and when these new creatures were discovered. Over all I give this article a 9/10 stars of overall rating.
This article was cool. It surprises me that so many new species can be discovered so quickly, especially all in the same general area. I thought it was amazing how the Apanteles wasp injects the host with a virus to protect the eggs. This is an incredible piece of evolutionary adaptation. After watching the video, I found it incredibly amazing how the virus controlled the host's brain.
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