Cruel Cuckoo Camouflage

Some of you may have had a scary encounter with a wasp, and if you’re reading this, you got the good end of the deal. There are many different types of wasp, and many types of bullying in the animal kingdom. The Cuckoo Wasp and its antics, however, are a unique brand of evil. The Cuckoo wasp species, also known as the jewel or emerald wasp, is named after the Cuckoo bird, who lays its eggs in another bird’s nest so they don’t have to do any parenting. Very impolite, but the Cuckoo wasp takes this to a new level: they kill to live and live to kill. Sadly, things are complicated because
this wasp happens to be adorable and
absolutely gorgeous. We will be discussing these details and more, but a good way to understand is to try and empathize, even if with just a lowly insect. Imagine this: You go find your friend’s house and hide around the block. Here, you make a mask that looks exactly like your friend. You put it on, you break on in and go into the kitchen and eat all of the available food. Then your friend’s mom comes home, you’re just sitting there, and she has no clue that you’re you, just glad you ate her cooking. Later, your friend returns home for dinner and you just eat your friend. Their mom is furious at this point and attacks you, but you have since curled up into a ball on the floor which made your armor-like skin so strong that your friend’s mom can’t land a single punch. Alright, now this is clearly unhinged, but it shows how extreme the behavior of a not-so-relatable creature can get, and just how cutthroat some facets of the animal kingdom have become. Some species of Cuckoo wasp, also called the Chrysididae family of wasp species, are born kleptoparasites: parasitic thieves. This lifestyle of the Cuckoo wasp begins with stealing and killing before maturation occurs, and once it does, they’re lying and stealing again, before laying their eggs to begin another violent lifecycle. Among these steps is a behavior showing a mastery in the art of chemistry and deception. Before we get into these details, let’s go through the most important day in the grim yet bedazzled life of a mother Cuckoo wasp. She needs a safe place to lay her eggs and comes across a Yellow Jacket’s nest with eggs of its own soon to hatch. Before the Cuckoo wasp can approach, she does some olfactory camouflage. We’ll pause here to get a better understanding of this mysterious mechanism: the pheromone. Frode Ødegaard, an entomologist (studier of insects), refers to pheromones as a “chemical language,” and it is a prime method of communication among insects. For some fabulous insight into the specialization of pheromone use across wasp species, we’ll visit a conversation between Dr. Frode Ødegaard and author Frid Hansen about this Cuckoo communication. Frid asks Frode about his work with his colleagues at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. They studied pheromones as the observable difference in two seemingly identical wasp species in the Cuckoo family. The two kinds of wasp release different pheromones because they prey on different hosts. Dr. Ødegaard speaks of this brilliance, telling Frid: “‘The evolutionary development associated with sponging off another species happens very fast. That’s why you can have two species that are really similar genetically but still belong to different species.’” This helps us understand how important pheromones are in an insect context and their variable purpose depending on the species. How fascinating! We now return to our story. The mother Cuckoo wasp senses the pheromones released by the host using olfaction (smelling for us humans but much more for the wicked wasp, as you know). The Cuckoo wasp mimics these pheromones by mixing just the right combination of chemicals, and when they’re released, they are effectively indistinguishable from that of the host. So, we have this mother wasp able to disguise anything she pleases, namely herself and her eggs, by cloaking her violent intentions in the familiarity of her victim. She is now able to lay her eggs in the unsuspecting hosts’ nest. Her eggs will hatch before the Yellow Jacket’s, and the new Cuckoo pupae will nibble their way into the cocoons of Yellow Jacket larva and eat them. When the Yellow Jacket brings food for what she thinks is her offspring, the Cuckoo wasp young just eat this too. Yes, these little monsters are primed for life and that’s that. Now let’s say the mother Cuckoo did get found out by her victim, the mother. What happened when your friends’ mom found out what you did? Not much. That’s because Cuckoo wasps are armed with layers of thick exoskeleton that can withstand the force of its angry victims. Alright, this is all very sad and scary, but we’re talking about wasps here. Let’s lighten the mood with another look at that shining emerald armor while reflecting on the fun part of our storyline. References 1. Hansen, F. K. (2021, March 24). New species discovered in Norway. Norwegian SciTech News. https://norwegianscitechnews.com/2021/04/new-species- discovered-in-norway/ 2. Cookspest. (n.d.). Pest Profile- The Cuckoo Wasp: A Beautiful Parasite. Cook’s Pest Control. https://www.cookspest.com/learn/blog/pest-profile-the-cuckoo-wasp-a-beautiful- parasite-chrysididae-chrysis-spp/ #:~:text=Despite%20those%20brilliant%20colors%2C%20she,all%20of%20the%20avail able%20food 3. This beautiful wasp is a parasitic killer. Australian Geographic. (2018, September 2). https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/creatura-blog/2018/01/the-beautiful- cuckoo-wasp-is-a-parasitic-killer/ 4. Strohm, E., Kroiss, J., Herzner, G., Laurien-Kehnen, C., Boland, W., Schreier, P., & Schmitt, T. (2008). A cuckoo in Wolves’ clothing? Chemical mimicry in a specialized cuckoo wasp of the European Beewolf (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae and Crabronidae). Frontiers in Zoology, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-5-2 5. Cuckoo wasps. The Australian Museum. (n.d.). https://australian.museum/learn/ animals/insects/cuckoo-wasps/ 6. Adobe Inc. (2019). Adobe Photoshop. Retrieved from https://www.adobe.com/ products/photoshop.html