The Daily Mail covered the research findings of UBC zoologists who discovered a new species of wasp that turn social spiders into “zombies” that do their bidding in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
The researchers documented the first known case of a parasitic relationship between a new Zatypota species wasp and a social Anelosimus eximius spider, where the wasp completely manipulates the behaviour of the spider by forcing it to leave its colony and spin a cocoon for the wasp larva before killing and consuming the spider.
The story also appeared in the Toronto Star, CBC and Vancouver is Awesome.
