Bizarre parasitic wasps preserved in amber about 99 million years ago had trap-like abdomens that they may have used to immobilise other insects ...

Researchers named the parasitic creature Sirenobethylus charybdis —both after the sirens of Greek mythology that lured in sailors to their doom and after Charybdis, a mythical sea monster that created ...

"I've seen a lot of strange insects, but this has to be one of the most peculiar-looking ones I've seen in a while," said one entomologist.

However, the hind wings aren’t its only striking features. S. charybdis appears to have evolved a unique, three-flapped abdominal setup similar to the leaves of a Venus flytrap. The paddle-like lower ...

resembling "a small bear trap attached to the end of it," said study co-author Lars Vilhelmsen from the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Scientists uncovered over a dozen female wasps preserved ...

resembling “a small bear trap attached to the end of it,” said study co-author Lars Vilhelmsen from the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Scientists uncovered over a dozen female wasps ...

Meet Sirenobethylus charybdis, a wasp that the team half-jokingly called a ‘Cretaceous flytrap’ for its rear being shaped like the fly-gobbling plant. ‘Nothing similar is known from any other insect,’ ...

An extinct species of parasitic wasp dating back nearly 99 million years was found preserved in amber, according to researchers.

Personally, given the vast array of parasites living out there today—including wasps that can turn their cockroach hosts into walking zombies—I’m glad that Mother Nature has forgotten some ...

resembling “a small bear trap attached to the end of it,” said study co-author Lars Vilhelmsen from the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Scientists uncovered over a dozen female wasps ...