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| Jean-Henri Fabre |
In 1879, the French entomologist J. H. Fabre studied many
species of hymenoptera (solitary wasps and bees) that hunt other insects as
food for their larvae. This is the reason for their name (hunting hymenoptera, also
called -improperly- parasite hymenoptera). Before laying the eggs, the hymenoptera
paralyze the prey by injecting with their sting a drop of poison in every nerve
ganglion in the un-centralized nervous system of the prey. In some species,
such as Ammophila hirsuta, which hunts caterpillars, the number of
ganglions may be large (up to twelve, one per segment in the caterpillar). The
hunter seems to know where exactly its prey must be stabbed with the sting.
Once the prey has been paralyzed and the egg laid, the
minute larva of the hymenopter digs inside the prey and starts devouring it,
showing an apparent innate knowledge of the prey anatomy: it starts feeding on the
parts less necessary for life, leaving the vital organs to the last. In this
way, the prey does not die and rot, which would make it improper as food and
lead to the death of the predator.
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| Ammophila sabulosa carrying a hunted caterpillar |
