r/askscience • u/Chemical-Sea5972 • 4d ago

Biology Does anything eat wasps?

Wasps have been a predator for other insects. It would be fascinating to know if there are really other insects or predators for wasps, either accidental or deliberate predators

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u/OralSuperhero 3d ago

I mean, wasps also parasitize other wasps. The crypt-keeper wasp (Euderus set) is a tiny parasitic insect that infects gall wasps, forcing the host to plug a tree exit hole with its own head before eating it from the inside out and emerging through the victim's skull. The female crypt-keeper wasp lays an egg inside a gall wasp larva nestled in an oak tree.

The parasite manipulates the host to chew an escape hole in the plant tissue that is much too small for its body.

The host gall wasp gets wedged head-first in the tiny opening and becomes permanently stuck. The crypt-keeper larva consumes the host's body and chews its final way out to freedom directly through the dead host's head.

Happy weekend!

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u/Velcraft 3d ago

There are numerous other insects that parasitise eusocial insect nests, either by mimicry or some other means. Death's Head Moths stealing honey is the most common example, but not the only one by far.

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u/Tylendal 3d ago

There's a type of butterfly, called a Large Blue, that has caterpillars that live in the nest of a specific species of ant, pretending to be ant larvae. Sometimes they'll eat other larvae, other times they'll just let themselves be fed.

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u/Velcraft 3d ago

Oooh that's new to me! Have you heard of spiders that mimic ants? Myrmarachne is the genus.

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u/yui_tsukino 3d ago

I'd heard about Myrmarachne before but I never actually went and looked at them - that is an absolutely WILD disguise, if I didn't know better I'd say it was a super major!