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vendingmachine commented on the word web-slinging wasps
Females of the Costa Rican wasp Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga lay their eggs on the abdomens of unlucky orb spiders called Plesiometa argyra.
After living off its host for a few weeks, the wasp larva injects a chemical into the spider that makes it build a strange, new kind of web, unlike anything it's built before.
But this new web isn't for the spider: It's meant to support the cocoon that the wasp larva will build after finally killing and eating the spider.
March 6, 2017