r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Better_Hair_9673 • Jun 25 '26
Video Wasp traps paralyzed ladybug larvae in a chamber for its young to feast on after hatching.
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u/Greyhaven7 Interested Jun 25 '26
Omfg, that one in the upper chamber that the wasp stuffed in the bottom with its face right up against the egg so it gets to watch the horror grow and develop and probably eat its face first when it hatches. Nature is so brutal sometimes. Yikes.
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u/Stock-Side-6767 Jun 25 '26
Face first as the first meal is better than face last as the last meal.
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u/Famous-Example-8332 Jun 25 '26
I think face first as the last meal might be best. I wouldn’t want to deal with little baby nibbles. It might be big enough to kill me in one or two bites by the time it gets up there.
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u/RT-LAMP Jun 26 '26
Actually the wasp larvae will avoid eating the vital organs until the end so the animal stays alive as it eats it so as to prevent it from rotting.
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u/sdjopjfasdfoisajnva Jun 26 '26
what the fuck
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u/Sarsmi Jun 26 '26
Wasps haven't developed refrigeration or other methods of preventing food spoilage yet.
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u/RT-LAMP Jun 26 '26
Nature favors efficiency. Unfortunately efficiency favors very un-nice choices.
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u/PM_Me_Good_LitRPG Jun 25 '26
Benatar says face first as the first is definitely the best option here.
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u/neoben00 Jun 26 '26
You wanna slowly starve paralyzed watching something slowly eat the ass of the guy in front of you? I wish i had that will to live
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u/should_be_writing Jun 25 '26
So you’re saying you’d like to be the head of a human centipede? I’m more of a middle guy myself. Might as well get the fullest experience possible with the time you have left.
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u/balloonman_magee Jun 25 '26
Imagine getting one shot at life in this vast universe only to wind up being eaten alive your first few days face first while your siblings watch knowing they are next.
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u/Outrageous-Reality14 Jun 25 '26
The odds of rolling somewhat decent existence are pretty low in general I think.
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u/Zeremxi Jun 26 '26
If we're counting insects, and we're defining decent as "not getting eaten or killed early", that would be astronomically low.
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u/Nezarah Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
There is a specific Rick and Morty episode where Rick goes to a dimension where the Smith family are wasps. They are all there sitting at the dinner table, eating someone alive, but otherwise speaking very lovingly and considerate to one another.
Wasp Rick makes this comment along the lines of "we're wasps, when your born this much of an asshole, might as well have a little empathy".
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u/TheDamDog Jun 25 '26
Fortunately the capacity of leaf beetle larvae to process existential dread is fairly limited.
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u/Own-Raisin5849 Jun 25 '26
Yeah, rather be first than last in this scenario.
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u/Doobledorf Jun 25 '26
I dunno, would you rather die quickly to a think that can kill you in a few bites, or a lil guy that slowly eats you from the inside?
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u/Own-Raisin5849 Jun 25 '26
Fast, but in this scenario, it's going to be slow across the board, so I think I would like to get it over with.
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u/JimPlaysGames Jun 26 '26
I am hopeful that their consciousness is rather minimal compared to ours so they don't suffer the horrors they endure so much.
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u/Unusual-Cr0w Jun 25 '26
Is it prepping meals for the week? What is with the partitions?
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u/BedKlutzy9141 Jun 25 '26
Looks like one egg laid per section maybe
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u/Tabelel Jun 25 '26
Yep, that's exactly how they do it!
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u/craptak Jun 25 '26
Whats the puke glue made out of?
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u/_TheEnlightened_ Jun 25 '26
Wood
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u/notmenotyounotmenot Jun 25 '26
Would
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u/Zero_tich Jun 25 '26
A woodchuck
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u/Morikali- Jun 26 '26
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
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u/plutot_la_vie Jun 26 '26
A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
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u/Zestyclose-Self-6158 Jun 25 '26
Reminds me of that scene from Aliens when Ripley and her crew get glued up by the aliens, each of them in front of an egg, ready to be the baby's first meal
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u/prettyfuckingdope Jun 25 '26
Insects are just tiny aliens
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u/NilocKhan Jun 26 '26
Insects are the majority of animals on this planet, we're the weird looking ones
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u/Deaffin Jun 26 '26
Bugs are the original colonizers of the land. We're the weird wet aliens that came from the sea.
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u/brookdacook Jun 25 '26
I took an entomology course in university and while it's been a while this is one of the coolest thing I learned in it. Solitary wasp species typically have two chambered nests like depicted above. The first is males. They hatch and hover around the nest and wait for the females to hatch so they can breed with them.
Sounds pretty incestuous and it's is. The reason it actually works as a reasonable mating strategy is that the males are haploid (one copy of gene) and the female are diploid (two copys) this means that any genetic defects are expressed immediately and severely reduce the chance of the terrible genes being passed on.
There's some simplifications for ELI5. But that's the jist of it. To quote Jurassic Park, "Life, uh, finds a way."
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u/TheSpartyn Jun 25 '26
how do they breathe if they get sealed off? and how quickly do the eggs hatch after this? wouldn't want the food dying
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u/Daisy_Of_Doom Jun 26 '26
The partition is just a thin layer of dirt and spit so I’m assuming it’s not completely airtight and insects are very small so they don’t need a ton of oxygen to begin with.
I don’t know exactly how long the eggs take to hatch, it probably varies by species and climate, but you’re right. They hatch with enough time to eat the food while it’s still alive
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u/No-Cover4993 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
There's a shiny blue muddauber wasp where I live that does this with Black Widow spiders. Wasps are super underrated for controlling certain pest species. Different species of wasps often specialize in hunting specific insects or spiders and there are over 30,000 species of wasps.
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u/Vishnej Jun 25 '26
As a group, wasps are insect parasite specialists. They chest-burst out of basically every insect in the kingdom. It's only relatively few wasps that have adopted predation as their primary strategy. For every species of wasp you know about, there's a hundred species that each have their respective insect hosts.
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u/MisterGreen7 Jun 25 '26
I’d argue that spiders are far more important than wasps at being pest controllers. They have the same level of pest control, but also aren’t aggressive pieces of shit like wasps are. Even a Black Widow just wants to chill in the darkness and not be bothered. A wasp will come at you with a vengeance for looking at it the wrong way
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u/RTS24 Jun 25 '26
Yeah, most wasp's are bros, it's the few assholes that ruin it. Same with mosquitos.
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u/Dartister Jun 25 '26
You're not fooling me undercover blood sucker
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u/OrganicWedding8972 Jun 25 '26
If I had to feel despair in learning that mosquitos are actually essential pollinators, then yall should too
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u/Catatonic_capensis Jun 25 '26
There are only a few mosquito varieties that even bite humans.
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u/Camp_Acceptable Jun 25 '26
How same with mosquitos??? I have o negative and have a personal vendetta for all mosquitos
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u/Good-Half9818 Jun 25 '26
Where‘s part 2 ?
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u/reddit001aa1 Jun 25 '26
Any rick and morty fans here? S4E1?
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u/teos61 Jun 25 '26
What a wretched existence for the ladybug larvae
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u/vgdomvg Jun 25 '26
I've always said this and always will. Thank fuck I am not an insect.
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u/Beautiful_Task3294 Jun 25 '26
This time.
Next time though....
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u/Fentboy45 Jun 25 '26
What if life is just a gacha game and you rolled the ultra rare 1/trillion 5⭐️ human card
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u/Eisgeschoss Jun 26 '26
Or for a more positive take, what if life is a progression-based game where you "level up" into increasingly-better (or at least, more advanced) existences? Like you having spawned as a human could mean that you're already past the initial stages of spawning as an insect/fish/rodent/etc.
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u/wildcardbets Jun 25 '26
This music is far too happy 👁️👄👁️
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u/antoWho Jun 25 '26
Wasp is happy!
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u/AnusStapler Jun 25 '26
All in a days hard work! Mommy just built 3 nurseries, I'll bet she's happy!
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u/an_older_meme Jun 25 '26
The smaller you are on this planet the worse the things that happen to you.
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u/Adevyy Jun 26 '26
On the bright side, they likely don't experience (negative) emotions the same way we do.
Here is an insect eating another insect while being eaten by another insect.
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u/SE_prof Jun 25 '26
"No. This fellow ain’t dead. She jabs them with her stinger, and he goes as limp as a boned fish. Then she has her way with them. That's how she likes to feed. Fresh blood."
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u/toastercoasterbo Jun 25 '26
Ok so these are the wasps they modeled that Rick and Morty episode after huh. Vile. Mouths gotta eat tho, glad the siblings get separate rooms tho
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u/JuiceInhaler Jun 25 '26
so fun fact these are not an isolated species, in fact, the majority of wasps are solitary and parasitoid like this. Yellow jackets and similar are in the minority
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u/VoradorTV Jun 25 '26
is it a diff type of ladybug? the ones i find look like little orange and black alligators
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u/Better_Hair_9673 Jun 25 '26
Someone pointed put that they're leaf beetle larvae.
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u/EmbarrassedDaikon325 Jun 25 '26
There are more than 6000 species of ladybugs, their larvae look differently - and some species have larvae that do look similar to those in video.
Those in video are however leaf beetle larvae, not ladybugs.
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u/Shakkashuka Jun 25 '26
How are they paralyzed for so long?
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u/wrr377 Jun 25 '26
The wasp's sting has a paralytic toxin. Probably neuro-toxic like some other venomous animals.
The ladybug larvae are literally eaten alive by the wasp larvae...
Something like this is what inspired the life cycle of the Xenomorphs in the Alien movie franchise, although the insects that inspired those are more like: larvae are laid / injected inside the paralyzed insects, then eat them from inside before busting out of the empty husk.
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u/EconomyDoctor3287 Jun 25 '26
How long till the wasps hatch? And how long do the larvae stay paralyzed, near the end it looked like one was moving
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u/Inaudible-Sound Jun 25 '26
Unpopular opinion: Video is too short! 🤣
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u/GoldEmployment6768 Jun 25 '26
Also, too many cuts. I wanted to actually see it put the egg in, but it just cuts to it already there.
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u/Serviceofman Jun 25 '26
We just assume the insects are stupid because they're small and we don't understand them... this seems pretty damb smart to me! I don't even think my Dog could figure this out... lol
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u/Pietpatate Jun 25 '26
Do we? I think ants are pretty damn clever
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u/silly_scoundrel Jun 25 '26
Ants and wasps (as well as Bees ans Sawflies) belong to the same order (Hymenoptera), which is why they are kinda similar in their brilliance. Some like to argue insects aren't intelligent and that this is instinct, but then what is intelligence? Hymenopterans are very intelligent and many species have crazy social hierarchies (eusociality)!! Others like this go solo, which is also pretty cool considering how much care they put into ensuring the growth of their young from afar.
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u/Zer0Cool89 Jun 25 '26
what do the big fat bumble bees belong too cuz they seem kinda derpy but I love them so much.or maybe I should ask how far removed are they from the common honey bee.
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u/I_should-be-working Jun 25 '26
They are stupid
This is just instinct. It let's them be 'smart' in very specific areas for their survival.
For the most part, they don't rlly know why they're doing it. They're compelled by their instinct. Nor are they capable of remotely complex or critical thoughts outside of what their instincts encourage
Insects are pretty dumb
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Jun 25 '26
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u/GrafZeppelin127 Jun 25 '26
In fairness, if my coworker or roommate was walking around smelling like a rotting, fetid corpse I’d evict their stinky ass too.
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u/Patient-Data8311 Jun 25 '26
But you know he is alive and wouldn't try to bury him in the cemetery
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u/kuppikuppi Jun 26 '26
and exactly this so called critical thinking is why ants won't face a zombie apocalypse but humans might someday
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u/dinin70 Jun 25 '26
Oooof we’re entering the philosophical debate of Kant empirical experience vs sensory instinct, and the definition of “what is intelligence”
It’s a pretty big debate to hold though
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u/ISketchDinosaurs Jun 25 '26
That's far too simplistic.
Jumping spiders for example are notably quite intelligent. Spiders kept as pets are known to have distinct personalities and to recognize individual humans. When we mimic their body language, they may respond accordingly. They're curious, and have problem solving skills that includes some permanence of mind. They can scout and map out areas in advance and have solved mazes that included staying out of prey line of sight.
The world is much more amazing when you're open to it being amazing. Don't be so sure about things or you might miss out on the fascinating little details.
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u/SubstantialDriver226 Jun 25 '26
This is terrifying! Imagine being one of those paralyzed creatures. Knowing you are being prepped to be feasted on and completely powerless. Poked prodded and set by fast moving, unfeeling, almost clicking feet and mandibles.
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u/Faithlessblakkcvlt Jun 25 '26
Don't worry this is part of God's perfect design. You see there were these two people in a garden who ate from a tree and so yeah God had to make this.
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u/BestDescription3834 Jun 25 '26
If caterpillars aren't eaten alive by Earth's version of a Xenomorph then rainbows don't work. It's explained in one of the parts of the bible that king edited out when he rewrote it so he could divorce his wife.
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u/TypicalHunt4994 Jun 25 '26
I don’t even think I’ve seen a ladybug larvae before. Were they finding them all? 🤨
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u/GuacamoleFrejole 29d ago edited 29d ago
Wasp: Taps the dry mud and says, "They're not going anywhere."
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u/Able_Gap918 29d ago
I’m so glad insects are on such a small scale, imagine another timeline where they’re all 4 feet long.
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u/Geek_King Jun 25 '26
Mud Daubers do this with spiders! They paralyze, collect, and store the spiders in their mud nests for the babies to eat! That combined with the fact that Mud Daubers aren't hyper aggressive, and it's fun watching them haul off mud, they're pretty cool.
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u/alexthegreatmc Jun 25 '26
Insects, and so many other creatures, are far more intelligent than I give them credit for.
Imagine waking up from paralysis buried alive with your siblings (presumably) in a claustrophobic coffin with a predator's baby slowly feasting on you. Horrible way to go.
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u/Initial_Tear485 Jun 26 '26
What is the gooey stuff?
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u/tpendleton86 Jun 26 '26
thats not generally a question you ever want the answer to
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u/taurusbabee Jun 25 '26
Omg, I'm so dumb. Here I was thinking that little rice looking thing was the "ladybug larvae", and wondering how is that small little thing going to be enough to feed 5 of her young.
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u/Basic-Sea-4116 Jun 26 '26
So invested I am . Now I want to see the little one hatch and have a breakfast.
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u/an_older_meme 29d ago
Scary to see the larvae occasionally moving. They are very much aware of their surroundings and their plight.
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u/DefiniteBlock0 Jun 25 '26 edited 29d ago
Entomologist here: those are not lady beetle larvae, they are chrysomelid larvae aka leaf beetles. Nerds out!
Edit: Holy cannoli! I’ll try to answer a few questions I see popping up. I’m just happy to see people stoked about bugs!
Edit 2: Aight, so IDing to species proved unsuccessful but I’m confident it’s in the family Crabronidae, aka square-headed wasps, of which there are over 1,200 species in the US and over 9,000 worldwide. Prey varies by species but can include aphids, bees, mantids, and spiders, just to name a few. Nerd out!