Arthropod Zombies: National Geographic Article In Time For Halloween

Just in time for Halloween is a scary article about parasites that control their hosts’ behavior in the November 2014 issue of National Geographic, “Mindsuckers:  Meet Nature’s Nightmare” by Carl Zimmer.


Let’s meet some ant relatives, the parasitic wasps, and learn how they turn their hapless arthropod hosts into “zombies.”









“Parasitic Wasp Dinocampus coccinellae
Spotted Lady Beetle Coleomegilla maculata

What is that glowing golden object on the spider’s back? It turns out that even spiders are not immune.












3 Replies to “Arthropod Zombies: National Geographic Article In Time For Halloween”

  1. btw my friends and I have a whole group I put our names from oldest to youngest.Abby and Gabby are twins.Is it true that arthropods like ants are not imun to the parsitic wasp’s sting and the egg trick does not work !!??!!??
    Our question

    Alaina 🙂

  2. Abby, Gabby and Alaina,

    Ants are not immune to wasp stings. They are basically wingless wasps. Ants fight with one another using their stings sometimes (in the ones that have stingers).

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