Technology

Art

99-million-year-old parasitic wasp with Venus flytrap-like mechanism discovered in amber

Sinead Butler

4d ago· 5 min readenNews

science news

Summary

Researchers have discovered a new species of parasitic wasp, Sirenobethylus charybdis, preserved in 99-million-year-old amber from Myanmar. The wasp had a unique Venus flytrap-like mechanism to catch prey before impregnating them with eggs. The study, published in BMC Biology, analyzed 16 specimens from the Cretaceous period.

Source

Twitter / X99-million-year-old parasitic wasp with Venus flytrap-like mechanism discovered in amberindy100.com

Key quotes

· 2 pulled

The species now called Sirenobethylus charybdis had a bizarre mechanism that worked like a Venus flytrap which caught the prey, and then the wasps impregnated them with their eggs

Preserved in amber from the Cretaceous period, palaeontologists were able to analyse 16 specimens of the tiny wasps discovered in Myanmar

Snippet from the RSS feed

We know dinosaurs were around 99 million years ago, but now new research has identified a kind of parasitic wasp that was flying around back then (and which has a strange way of catching its prey).The species now called Sirenobethylus charybdis had a biza

You might also wanna read

New Australian Bee Species Discovered with Horn-Like Facial Projections

Australian researchers have discovered a new species of native bee with distinctive horn-like projections on the female's face, earning it t

The Onion·7mo ago

The Tongue-Eating Parasite Cymothoa exigua: How It Replaces Fish Tongues

The article explores the fascinating and gruesome parasitic relationship between Cymothoa exigua, a tongue-eating louse, and its fish hosts.

animals.howstuffworks.com·6mo ago

Fossil evidence reveals vertebrate predation on Mississippian blastoid Pentremites spicatus

This scientific paper presents evidence of vertebrate predation on the Mississippian blastoid Pentremites spicatus, a type of extinct echino

scup.com·2d ago

Shark eye lens isotope records reveal lifetime diet and habitat use patterns

This article presents a scientific study using eye lens layers (laminae) in sharks as a biochemical archive to reconstruct lifetime diet pre

tandfonline.com·12d ago

Venus flytraps snap shut through rapid cell-wall softening, French researchers discover

Researchers in France have discovered that Venus flytraps snap shut through rapid softening of their outer cell walls, contradicting the pre