14 DAY TRIAL // A recent paper in the journal ZooKeys details the discovery of a new wasp species in the cloud forests of Ecuador, that researchers have decided to name after singer and musician Shakira.
Before anyone jumps to conclusions, it must be said that this newly discovered wasp species does now owe its peculiar name to the fact that it has some really amazing guitar-playing or vocalizing skills.
On the contrary, the Shakira wasp has ended up being named after the Colombian singer and musician due to its fairly odd and quite terrifying reproductive behavior, EurekAlert informs.
Thus, investigations have shown that, when the time comes for a new generation of Shakira wasps to be born, mature females go in search of a caterpillar and, once they find it, they inject an egg inside its body, the same source details.
As it develops inside the caterpillar's body, the egg pretty much feeds on its host. Apparently, having its entrails devoured by this not-so-nice visitor causes the caterpillar to bend and twist in ways that researchers say are not that different to Shakira's moves on the dance floor.
Apart from the fact that it forces its host caterpillar to belly-dance against its will, the baby Shakira wasp eventually consumes it almost in its entirety. Thus, researchers say that the wasp sooner or later turns the caterpillar into a mummy and makes its cocoon inside it.
Once the young Shakira wasp is done growing and is ready to face the world, it cuts a whole in its dead host's body, steps out and sets out to explore the great outdoors, maybe even find some unlucky caterpillars that its offspring can turn into their nursery.
Professor Scott Shaw with the University of Wyoming in the United States explains that, by treating caterpillars this way, the wasps are doing ecosystems a favor.
“Killing and mummifying caterpillars may sound bad, but these are actually highly beneficial insects. These wasps are helping to naturally control the populations of plant-feeding caterpillars, so they help to sustain the biodiversity of tropical forests,” he says.
All in all, the paper in the journal ZooKeys describes 24 new species of wasps, all of which reproduce by mummifying caterpillars. Of these 24 wasp species that have recently been discovered in Ecuador, several have been named after public figures.
Jimmy Fallon, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Ellen DeGeneres, Ecuadorian artist Eduardo Kingman, American poet Robert Frost, and Colombian singer and musician Shakira are just some of the famous people who now share their name with wasps that inhabit Ecuador's cloud forests.