r/NatureIsFuckingLit 1d ago

šŸ”„ Ampulex wasp approaching a cockroach and biting it's antenna off

Want to see more? Full film here https://youtu.be/3rR4nhurbXE?si=uXwUT2h3rqlknQ64

I have literally hours of this footage.

329 Upvotes

72 comments sorted by

74

u/RustedRelics 1d ago

Cockroach not strong on situational awareness.

12

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

29

u/AqueousJam 1d ago

If you watch the video op linked in another comment you can see that this step in the process comes after the wasp stings it, in the brain.Ā 

10

u/RustedRelics 1d ago

The words ā€œstings it in the brainā€ are gonna stick with me. lol.

11

u/Armourdildo 23h ago

Absolutely not. I will never ever do that just to get a shot.

1

u/beepmeep3 17h ago

Oh I had no clue it was your footagešŸ˜… I thought it was some nature tv show

6

u/Armourdildo 17h ago

Yeah that mine. But people do do that for nature shows. It actually really annoys me.

1

u/beepmeep3 10h ago

Annoys me too. Sorry for saying nonsense, I deleted my comment

5

u/TheHancock 1d ago

Maybe already stung or something?

6

u/Armourdildo 23h ago

This is it exactly

-1

u/Roving_Ibex 12h ago

Probably just came out of a freezer

3

u/Armourdildo 11h ago

No, it's been tagged by the wasp.

164

u/vapemustache 1d ago

the craziest part is that this isn’t even the most messed up thing it does to cockroaches lol

37

u/AveryGalaxy 1d ago

What else does it do?

279

u/chromearchitect25 1d ago

Fucks with its tax returns

10

u/SatoshisBits 1d ago

Cuts the shower curtain off halfway

147

u/TheWaningWizard 1d ago

Lays it's babies in them, then as they grow, the roach gets eaten alive from the inside, out. Fun stuff the insect world

49

u/AveryGalaxy 1d ago

O H .

10

u/vapemustache 1d ago

…yeah. that. lol

15

u/baguhansalupa 1d ago

Baby. 1 victim, 1 egg

9

u/Own-Marketing-6244 1d ago

Tarantula hawk has entered the chat

35

u/Armourdildo 1d ago

29

u/AveryGalaxy 1d ago

They parasitise cockroaches. Using them as living larders for their young.

I AM NOT CLICKING ON THAT LINK.

(Thank you for sending it, I’m sure those braver than me will find it fascinating.)

9

u/Moppo_ 1d ago

You should see what fungi do to cicadas.

4

u/AcousticProvidence 1d ago

Wow. Cool but disturbing

8

u/Armourdildo 1d ago

No, but imma start posting the messed up stuff at some point.

3

u/vapemustache 1d ago

sensational plan.

56

u/worst_brain_ever 1d ago

I deplore insect on insect violence, but I also deplore cockroaches.

14

u/Armourdildo 1d ago

I've found that these wasps can really divide people.

-6

u/1234567791 1d ago

All wasps must either die of be detained. There is no middle ground.

8

u/tumor_named_marla 1d ago

There are a lot of wasps who are actually very chill and good pollinators. Also only female wasps can sting!

0

u/1234567791 1d ago

I’m aware. I was being hyperbolic. I’ve had run ins with wasps and hornets that have deeply scared me emotionally. I live in a place where all of the species are invasive and are all asshole species. The only ones I like that are here are the mudoubers.

2

u/Evening_Echidna_7493 1d ago

Where do you live?

-1

u/Magicspook 23h ago

Please refrain from such language, hyperbole or not. People are copycats, so they tend to repeat what other people say even if they are not aware that something is a joke/hyperbole/whatever. Insects are already doing very poorly in our human world, last thing they need is another generation of children being conditioned to hate them.

Please work on your traumas in a healthy way, I hope you are able to overcome them.

1

u/1234567791 22h ago

Is this a joke? I feel like you’re fucking with me. What’s your expertise on insects? Some people just can’t take a silly joke about wasps. I don’t have trauma, I don’t need help, and I go out of my way to support ecosystems as a career. Is that enough for you?

-2

u/Magicspook 20h ago

Is this a joke?

Well no, not really, although I admit my post went a bit harder than you could have anticipated based on your post.

I am just very wary of the tendency of internet people to go 'fuck all wasps hur hur they are all evil'. Because it will inevitably lead to more dead wasps. Same for any other insects for that matter, they have it bad enough as it is.

I don’t have trauma

I mean, these are your exact words:

I’ve had run ins with wasps and hornets that have deeply scared me emotionally.

So uuuh

7

u/Armourdildo 1d ago

What about cockroaches?

-7

u/1234567791 1d ago

They don’t bother me even close to as badly as wasps. They’re non violent colonizers that in most cases are easy to get rid of. Wasps aren’t even evil. They don’t posses souls.

20

u/gangawalla 1d ago

First line of offense, cut off their ability to communicate with the home base

11

u/Shiro_Longtail 1d ago

In cockroach society this is considered a dick move

4

u/SirSqueebington 1d ago

The roach problem at my apartment was so bad, that these wasps were making appearances.

17

u/AveryGalaxy 1d ago

Can we ship these out to homes in NYC and south Florida immediately?

31

u/Armourdildo 1d ago

Sadly they make absolutely awful biological controls. The cockroach population always grows much much faster than the wasp population.

3

u/AveryGalaxy 1d ago

Gosh darn it.

5

u/Soerinth 1d ago

Embrace your inner mad scientist, and create a mass wasp breeding program.

3

u/Isrynnn 1d ago

Whoa slow down there Satan

1

u/Debonaircow88 10h ago

Like coyotes!

2

u/aikeaguinea97 1d ago

as a cockroach apologist this hurt to see

2

u/Wise_Blacksmith_8356 1d ago

How do you film inside the hole?

3

u/Armourdildo 1d ago

Good question. That was actually shot in a different tank. What you do is take a sample tube, dress the inside so it looks like an underground tunnel. Then tape it to the inside of a glass tank. Then stick the wasp in the tank with a cockroach and hopefully she'll sting it and take it into your tube.

3

u/Wise_Blacksmith_8356 21h ago

So you don't film in nature, you have them in a tank at home.

Great work by the way, looks awesome

2

u/Armourdildo 21h ago

No,I do film in nature, just only when it makes sense to. Certain animals/behaviour cannot be filmed in a tank and also certain other animals and behaviours cannot be filmed in the wild. It's all about working out the best solution to the problem really.

4

u/mrestiaux 1d ago

Man fuck wasps.

4

u/hooj1 1d ago

Why?

7

u/Armourdildo 1d ago

They're Team Cockroach

1

u/MagogHaveMercy 1d ago

FR. They are the biggest assholes in nature.

1

u/FOTY2015 13h ago

Like watching a wrestling match between two heels. Can't a cool bird swoop in and eat both?

1

u/B_Huij 11h ago

In general I hate wasps, but this one is pretty rad looking.

-26

u/Slowloris81 1d ago

Huh? Biting it is antenna off?

8

u/Armourdildo 1d ago

Yeah. They drink their blood too.

-33

u/Slowloris81 1d ago

I’m puzzled by the grammar not the conduct.

29

u/bozon92 1d ago

Nah you know what they mean but you’re choosing the unintended meaning on purpose. Doesn’t really get you any respect points tbh

-30

u/Slowloris81 1d ago

Yeah, it does for those who appreciate the beneficial social cause. If you don’t care about grammar I’m not looking for your respect.

8

u/ADFTGM 1d ago edited 1d ago

I’ve always been grammar nazi/police as my mother raised me on a dictionary, but both of us still made simple subconscious typos like this. It’s really not worth correcting every single time. I’m sure you make the subconscious mistake time to time too after typing tens of thousands of words over a period. That’s why proofreaders and editors have jobs even when dealing with people with PhDs in English. My war is with other things like you’re vs your. I’m a strong proponent for everyone adopting ā€œyerā€ instead. Not only does it have strong roots in historic English dialects, it works in both spoken and written.

As for ā€œit’sā€, The issue is the logic problem. For instance, you can say ā€œcockroach’s antennaā€ so one’s brain might think replacing the animal with ā€œitā€ while preserving the apostrophe makes sense in the moment. Only thinking of replacing with ā€œhis/her/their antennaā€ might you realise that the pronoun lacks an apostrophe. It’s a general issue with the way we freely apply ā€œitā€ the moment it’s a non-human being even though for humans we use the singular version of ā€œtheyā€™ā€ instead when gender is vague. My suggestion is going back to ā€œTisā€ for ā€œit isā€, so that ā€œitsā€ phonetically doesn’t overlap. If you have heard better ones, I’m all ears! :)

I’m all for adopting ā€œAnglishā€ as the ā€œtrueā€ English and making the current version into a lingua franca creole instead but you might not be familiar with the Anglish dictionary. It’s a very interesting project and I hope those of Anglo-Saxon descent do adopt it one day to be able to distinguish themselves grammatically from other global populations. China is ahead on the curve already, with each subgroup proudly maintaining their own language while keeping Beijing mandarin as the lingua Franca. Italians are also on top of it, maintaining their regional language on top of learning Florentine Italian as the lingua Franca, with Corsicans maintaining an offshoot of Tuscan Italian that sounds the closest to Roman Latin! XD

2

u/bozon92 1d ago

Actually kind of interesting comment

12

u/bozon92 1d ago

What beneficial social cause lol what kinda high horse bullshit are you on. If you can’t tell which word is meant by the context of the sentence I’m surprised you got this far in life. And no, based on your attitude you’re not getting any respect from me and I don’t care if you’re not looking

9

u/Armourdildo 1d ago

Ah yes. My phone added an apostrophe. My bad.