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1- How Leaf Cutter Ants Feed a Killer Fungus

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1- How Leaf Cutter Ants Feed a Killer Fungus

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How Leaf Cutter Ants Feed a Killer Fungus | The Green Planet | PBS

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2-Exploring the symbiotic life of Pistol Shrimp and Goby Fish

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2-Exploring the symbiotic life of Pistol Shrimp and Goby Fish

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Odd Couple of the Sea: Pistol and Goby | The Aquatic World with Philippe Cousteau

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2-Exploring the symbiotic life of Pistol Shrimp and Goby Fish

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2-Exploring the symbiotic life of Pistol Shrimp and Goby Fish

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An expert marine fishkeeper examines the fascinating symbiotic relationship between pistol shrimps and the gobies they partner with in the reef aquarium.

Surprising Characteristics

Many of the creatures that we keep in our aquariums have unexpected features, but there are probably few that can compete in this respect with pistol shrimps, or snapping shrimps, as they are also known. While their commensal relationships with gobies are remarkable enough (and are the main focus of this article), they can lay claim to two much more remarkable things.
Gunshot Noise
First is the noise they make, a popping sound that is quite like a gunshot, which gives them their common name. The sound is slightly alarming to hear in the aquarium, as it sounds similar to cracking glass. The main feature of the pistol shrimp's noise, however, is that it is very, very loud. Some species of pistol shrimps rival whales for the accolade of noisiest creature in the ocean-pretty impressive given the size difference! To quantify the sound, the intensity has been measured as 190 decibels at 3 feet (1 meter) from the shrimp: louder than a jet engine 165 feet away.
Bubble Noise
All the more remarkable is that the sound may be just a side effect of the shrimp's feeding technique. Pistol shrimps use a specially adapted claw to fire a pulse of water at their prey; the water shoots out of the claw at around 62 miles (100 km) per hour. In its wake, the water leaves a tiny bubble, and the sound is generated as this bubble collapses. The whole process lasts less than a millisecond. It's unclear whether it's the water pulse, the sound, or a pressure wave generated by the collapsing bubble that actually stuns or kills the shrimp's prey.
As Hot as the Sun
The sound is impressive, but something else about the pistol shrimp's shot is positively mind-blowing. Using high-speed cameras to film pistol shrimps in action, scientists observed that a flash of light is also emitted as the tiny bubble in the wake of the pulse of water collapses. This is weird enough in itself, but what it indicates is that the tiny collapsing bubble reaches a temperature of almost 9000oF (almost 5000oC)-not far from the temperature of the surface of the sun. This is probably the highest temperature that can be achieved by any living organism. The event is so brief and the bubble so small that the shrimp doesn't cook itself, but it's astonishing to think that a small crustacean can generate such temperatures.

Perfect Partners

The partnership between pistol shrimps and gobies is a good example of commensalism, where both parties in the relationship benefit. The goby benefits from the shrimp's digging and construction skills, having access to a well-built burrow. Pistol shrimps have poor eyesight, and they use gobies as an early warning system to detect predators.

Gobies tend to hover just outside the shared burrow, catching passing zooplankton or small benthic invertebrates. In many cases the shrimps maintain contact with the gobies by using their long antennae, and the gobies signal to the shrimps using specific fin flicks. Some species of goby also appear to feed their shrimps, spitting food into the burrow, and even without such deliberate actions it's possible that the shrimps may feed on fragments of food that the gobies drop.

Meet the Gun-Slinging Shrimps
A. bellulus
While many species of pistol shrimps are found in a wide variety of habitats, only a few are commonly kept in aquariums. These are species of the genus Alpheus. A. bellulus, also known as the tiger pistol shrimp, is perhaps the most frequently kept species. It has a white body with complex brown or reddish-brown markings. Some individuals have purple markings on the legs.
A. randalli
A. randalli is similar, but rather than the intricate markings of A. bellulus it has irregular red bands along the body and claws. Both associate well with many different goby species. Another very attractive, but less often imported, species is the golden pistol shrimp (often referred to as A. ochrostriatus in the trade, but currently has no scientific name), which has a yellow body and claws with faint longitudinal stripes and a white band at the rear of the thorax.
A. soror
One other Alpheus pistol shrimp deserves a mention, A. soror, the bull's-eye shrimp. This shrimp generally doesn't associate with gobies, but it is an attractive species in its own right, with an orange-pink body with prominent black ocelli on either side of the anterior part of the tail, and purple claws.

The commonly imported Alpheus species typically grow to 2 to 2¾ inches (5 to 7 cm). There are other Alpheus species, and other pistol shrimps, that find their way into aquarium stores, but they are often of unknown species.

And Their Goby Guests

Several genera of gobies associate with pistol shrimps. They can be (and usually are) kept without shrimps, and most are good aquarium fishes in their own right. They are generally hardy and easy to feed, but many (even the robust-looking Cryptocentrus gobies) can be quite shy, and they are prone to jumping from open aquariums or even through gaps in aquarium covers. They often seem to be both bolder and less prone to jumping when kept with shrimps-perhaps having an expertly constructed bolt-hole close at hand makes them more confident.

Their initial shyness can be an issue when getting them to feed when they're first introduced into the aquarium, as they may be reluctant to venture out to take food, especially in busy tanks with fast-moving or aggressive fishes. To overcome this, make sure that some food drifts past their hiding place (e.g., by squirting some food just upstream of the goby's lair with a turkey baster or pipette) so that they get enough to eat in the short term, and eventually they will come to associate humans with being fed and become bolder.
Common Aquarium Species
The most common aquarium imports are species of Amblyeleotris, Cryptocentrus, and Stonogobiops, although other species are sometimes offered for sale. There are 38 species of Amblyeleotris, which in the wild associate with a variety of Alpheus shrimps. Many of them look quite similar: long, slender fishes that are white with dark red bands, most growing to 4 to 5 inches (10 to 12.5 cm). There are some more distinctive species in this genus, notably Randall's shrimp goby (A. randalli), which is white with thin orange bands and has a large dorsal fin with a prominent black ocellus (eye-spot). Also distinctive, if seldom seen in aquariums, is the giant shrimp goby (A. fontanesii), which looks similar to most other Amblyeleotris species except in terms of size-this species lives up to its common name by potentially growing to 10 inches (25 cm).
Stonogobiops Gobies
The Stonogobiops gobies are at the opposite end of the size scale; the largest of the currently known species grows to only 2¾ inches (7 cm), and most are smaller than this. Four species are seen relatively frequently in the aquarium trade: S. dracula, (the largest species), which has a yellow face and white body with alternating thick and thin dark-red bands; S. nematodes, which grows to 2¼ inches (5.7 cm) and has a brown-banded white body, yellow face, and very elongated first dorsal fin ray; the 2¼-inch S. xanthorhinica, which looks similar to S. nematodes but lacks the elongated dorsal fin ray; and the 2-inch (5-cm) S. yasha, a very distinctive goby, white with bright red longitudinal stripes and a very long first dorsal ray. Stonogobiops species usually associate with Alpheus shrimps, particularly A. randalli.
Cryptocentrus Species
Cryptocentrus species have a more robust look than most other shrimp gobies, with frog-like heads and big mouths. They tend to be more aggressive towards related species, and in the case of the larger species even towards other tankmates, than other shrimp gobies. Not many of the 34 species find their way into the aquarium trade with any frequency. The most popular species is the yellow watchman goby (C. cinctus), which grows to 4 inches. One larger species is also fairly common in dealers' tanks: C. leptocephalus, the pink-spotted shrimp goby. It grows to around 6 inches (15 cm) and is grayish but with bright pink spots and blotches as well as smaller neon-blue spots.

Numerous other Cryptocentrus species are occasionally offered for sale, and while relatively little is known about their care, they can probably be expected to behave in a similar way to their more familiar congeners. In the wild, Cryptocentrus associate with a variety of Alpheus shrimps.

Creating a Home for Gobies and Shrimps

When keeping pistol shrimps and gobies, the main area of concern is what the shrimp will do to the aquarium. Pistol shrimps have one preoccupation: constructing and maintaining elaborate burrows. This in itself makes them very interesting and entertaining aquarium inhabitants, even without gobies, but it does need to be taken into consideration when setting up the tank.
Substrate
The first requirement is to make sure that any rocks are securely positioned on the base of the tank-neither sitting on top of the sand or gravel substrate nor leaning on it. Pistol shrimps can easily undermine rocks when digging, leading to potentially tank-breaking landslides.

To provide your shrimp with an ideal environment for building burrows, use a mixed-bed substrate of sand and coarse coral gravel (¼- to ¾-inch [0.5- to 2-cm] fragments of coral branches). A deeper bed is best, but about 3 inches (8 cm) will do. Shrimps usually use a mixture of sand, gravel, shells, and small rocks to construct burrows, and it's fascinating to watch them carefully arranging and then repositioning individual pieces.

It's important not to underestimate the effects of even a small shrimp on the substrate-level aquascape: Corals sitting on the sand may be buried, or if small enough (frags, for example) carried off and used as building material. In my large reef tank a small pistol shrimp occupies an area of about 15 x 15 inches (38 x 38 cm), within which only large rocks are safe. If you keep a pistol shrimp in a nano aquarium, you need to be ready to let the shrimp use the entire substrate as it will to make its home; that doesn't mean that you can't create an aquascape using rocks, but you need to make sure the rocks are well secured to the tank base. The shrimp will work around them.
Acclimation
Apart from their desire for plentiful supplies of building materials, pistol shrimps are generally less demanding in the aquarium than many other crustaceans. Like other types of shrimp, they should have a slow, careful acclimation when first added to the tank, but once established they seem to be rather hardier than, for example, cleaner or peppermint shrimps. They seem to be more tolerant of salinity and temperature swings.
Feeding
Feeding pistol shrimps is easy. They will eat frozen crustaceans (Artemia, krill, mysid shrimp, and copepods) as well as hunt their own food.
Tankmates
A certain amount of care is required when it comes to choosing crustacean tankmates for pistol shrimps. Large pistol shrimps (although not the species generally kept with gobies) are fairly formidable mini-predators and can easily capture and kill smaller aquarium shrimps such as Lysmata, Thor, and Rhynchocinetes species. Smaller ones, however, despite their snapping claws, are vulnerable to predation when molting, which, like other shrimps, they do regularly in order to grow.

Immediately after molting, their new shell is very soft and provides little protection. At this stage they are easy prey for larger shrimps such as Stenopus species. Even large peppermint shrimps (Lysmata wurdemanni), which lack large claws, can be surprisingly predatory and will eat small pistol shrimps. In large tanks such predation is less of an issue, but in nano aquariums it is best to keep your pistol shrimp as the only shrimp in the tank.

Choosing Gobies

While pistol shrimps of all kinds can be housed in similar tanks, the size range of goby partners is so varied (from under 2 inches [5 cm] for some Stonogobiops to around 10 inches [25 cm] for the largest Amblyeleotris species) that it's important to choose an appropriate aquarium to suit the fish half of the partnership.

Shrimp gobies of all kinds, especially when teamed up with shrimps, are relatively sedentary, seldom moving far from their burrows, so they can be kept in smaller tanks than their size would suggest. Stonogobiops species in particular are ideal for nano reef aquariums, where the lack of larger fishes enables them to feel more confident and be more extroverted than they typically are in larger systems.

Getting Them Together

If you want to keep pistol shrimps and gobies together, by far the best thing to do is buy them together. That way you can be sure to get a shrimp that is compatible with your goby and be sure that the goby and shrimp will find each other and continue their relationship in the aquarium. Ideally, you should acclimate the shrimp and goby in the same bag or vessel so that they don't lose contact when added to the tank. Best of all is to buy pairs of both shrimps and gobies together, thus replicating the wild situation, but opportunities to do this are rare.
Get the Right Species
Getting gobies and shrimps that have been bought separately to team up is a trickier business. There is one obvious issue, which is that you might not have the right species of shrimp. While many shrimp gobies will partner with different shrimp species, there's no telling which shrimp an individual goby may have been associated with before it was captured, or how willing it will be to associate with a different species.
Put Them in Together
On a more practical level, shrimps and gobies can have a hard time finding each other if they are introduced to the aquarium separately. The shrimps are obsessed with their burrows, spending a lot of time inside them (even more so when they have no goby partner) and have such poor eyesight that they would be unable to spot a potential burrowmate even a few inches away. For their part, gobies are concerned mainly with food and shelter, and if they find or dig another hole or cave before locating the one holding the shrimp, they will tend to stay there. I once had a Stonogobiops yasha goby living in the same nano tank, with a base area of 14 x 14 inches (36 x 36 cm), as an Alpheus ochrostriatus pistol shrimp for several months without their finding each other.

One way of getting shrimps and gobies together is to force the issue by catching both and putting them together, even briefly, in a bucket, small tank, or even a plastic bag. This was how I eventually got my yasha goby and its shrimp tankmate to find each other, when I was doing a revamp of the nano tank.

If you do this you need to observe both parties carefully and separate them if you see aggressive or territorial behavior. If all goes well, you should be able to observe the two of them staying close together, often with the shrimp keeping at least one of its antennae in contact with the goby. The two can then be re-introduced to the aquarium, and if they have bonded they should stay together.

As the process of catching both parties, but especially the shrimp, is likely to cause some disruption in the aquarium, this method is best used when rearranging tank dÉcor or otherwise changing the aquarium setup. It is also something that you could do having just bought either shrimp or goby when you have the other half of the team already in residence. The new arrival should be acclimated carefully to the aquarium water, in a shipping bag or other vessel, then the resident should be introduced to it, prior to both being added (or, in the case of the resident, returned) to the main aquarium.

See the full article on TFH Digital http://www.tfhdigital.com/tfh/october_2014#pg75

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Pistol Shrimp & Goby Partnership | Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine

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An expert marine fishkeeper examines the fascinating symbiotic relationship between pistol shrimps and the gobies they partner with in the reef aquarium. Many of the creatures that we keep in our aquariums have unexpected features, but there are probably few that can compete in this respect with pistol shrimps, or snapping shrimps, as they are also known.

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Mutualism is a relationship in which both organisms benefit. For example, bacteria live in the digestive system of cows. The bacteria help the cows by breaking down plants that the cows eat. In turn, the cows provide a place to live and a source of food for the bacteria.

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There are a lot of ocean animals out there that make you think, " what the heck ... ?" You have the hagfish with its slime that is 100,000 times softer than Jell-O. You have the deep-sea lizardfish which is a big-toothed, sex-switching, stealth-attacking predator. You even have the gulper eel which goes from "regular looking eel" to "nightmare fuel" in a matter of seconds.

But perhaps no one takes the "weird and wild" cake like the tongue-eating louse. The name speaks for itself: this pesky parasite makes its way in the world by eating other animals' tongues.

You may have gone your entire life without knowing about the wonders of the tongue-eating louse, but that ends today. So buckle up, clamp your jaws shut and read on to learn more about this unusual isopod.

What is the tongue-eating louse?

The tongue-eating louse ( Cymothoa exigua) is an isopod, or type of crustacean, found in the Cymothoidae family. They are parasites, meaning their survival depends on, and is detrimental to, another "host" organism. They're also not the only parasites at the Cymothoidae family reunion-cymoithoids are all ectoparasites, meaning they live on the outside of the host rather than the inside, and mostly target fish as hosts.

The tongue-eating louse is found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and only grows to about an inch in length. They are protandrous hermaphrodites, meaning they start out as males then switch to females later in life. Naturally, that means that females are larger than males. It also turns out that it's the female that gives the parasite its iconic name.

Here's how it works: a juvenile louse will sneak in through a fish's gills, where it will wait for another louse to show up. Once there are two or more, one of them will grow and change into a female. The female will crawl out of the gills, up through the throat to the mouth where it will clamp down its strong legs onto the fish's tongue. Each leg has a specially evolved sharp appendage that allows it to secure itself tightly.

Now the fun begins (for the isopod, not so much for the fish). The female stays put and cuts the blood vessels in the tongue. Without blood flowing to the organ, the tongue will eventually wither away and fall off, leaving only the parasite in its stead. The female will then continue to feast off the fish's blood and mucus, happy as a vampiric clam.

Once she is established, the remaining male in the gills will mate with the much-larger female, who will then spew many tiny new parasites out of the fish. These fresh bundles of terror will drift along until they can also secure themselves in the gills of another unsuspecting host.

What happens to the fish?

Believe it or not, this highly invasive activity does not kill the fish. It's not a good time, to be sure, but the fish is able to use the parasite like a prosthetic organ. They occupy multiple species of fish, including menhaden, snapper and other commonly-caught species (so keep an eye out the next time you're fishing on vacation).

If you're worried that you might lose your tongue after a quick dip in the ocean, don't be. The tongue-eating louse doesn't infect humans (although if you really want to keep yourself up at night, feel free to read more about mouth parasites humans can get). However, they might be in the fish you order from the seafood market-so always look your non-gift fish in the mouth!

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Tongue-Eating Louse Actually Eats Tongues - Ocean Conservancy

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There are a lot of ocean animals out there that make you think, " what the heck ... ?" You have the hagfish with its slime that is 100,000 times softer than Jell-O. You have the deep-sea lizardfish which is a big-toothed, sex-switching, stealth-attacking predator.

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It's the stuff of nightmares, or science fiction: a parasite that wants to get inside an animal's mouth, where it attacks - and replaces - the tongue. That's the incredibly specific, terribly icky job of the tongue-eating louse.

Luckily for humans, the isopod doesn't affect people. But the Atlantic croaker and other fish are less fortunate, as a recent Facebook posting by the Galveston Island State Park in Texas shows.

"This parasite detaches the fish's tongue, attaches itself to the fish's mouth, and becomes its tongue," the wildlife agency said, expounding on a photo showing the isopod curled inside a croaker's mouth. "The parasite then feeds on the fish's mucus. It also happens to be the only known case where a parasite functionally replaces a host's organ."

Several commenters on the post said that for years now, they've seen the tongue-eating louse on fish in nearby Gulf of Mexico waters.

Along with croaker, the parasite is commonly found in the mouths of sea trout and several snapper species, Mark Fisher, science director for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's coastal fisheries division, told Texas TV station KSAT.

"These are isopod crustaceans and are related to the pill bugs, a.k.a. rolly-pollies, you can find in your yard," Fisher added.

It seems that several parasites in the louse's Cymothoa genus use a similar tactic.

Menhaden fish are so often seen with their tongue replaced by the isopod that they're known as "bug mouths," according to the website North Carolina Fishes. And they're so common in snapper that that version of the louse has a second name: snapper-choking isopod.

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The tongue-eating louse does exactly what its name suggests

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It's the stuff of nightmares, or science fiction: a parasite that wants to get inside an animal's mouth, where it attacks - and replaces - the tongue. That's the incredibly specific, terribly icky job of the tongue-eating louse. Luckily for humans, the isopod doesn't affect people.

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How a Wasp Turns Cockroaches into Zombies

A special chemical blend injected into the brains of cockroaches makes them pawns in the jewel wasp's control-and perfect live food for its offspring

By Christie Wilcox

Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Adapted from How Earth's Deadliest Creatures Mastered Biochemistry, by Christie Wilcox. Copyright © 2016 by Christie Wilcox.

I don't know if cockroaches dream, but i imagine that if they do, jewel wasps feature prominently in their nightmares. These small, solitary tropical wasps are of little concern to us humans; after all, they don't manipulate our minds so that they can serve us up as willing, living meals to their newborns, as they do to unsuspecting cockroaches. It's the stuff of horror movies, quite literally: the jewel wasp and similar species inspired the chest-bursting horrors in the Alien franchise. The story is simple, if grotesque: the female wasp controls the minds of the cockroaches she feeds to her offspring, taking away their sense of fear or will to escape their fate. But unlike what we see on the big screen, it's not some incurable virus that turns a once healthy cockroach into a mindless zombie-it's venom. Not just any venom, either: a specific venom that acts like a drug, targeting the cockroach's brain.

Brains, at their core, are just neurons, whether we're talking human brains or insect brains. There are potentially millions of venom compounds that can turn neurons on or off. So it should come as no surprise that some venoms target the carefully protected central nervous system, including our brains. Some leap their way over physiological hurdles, from remote injection locations around the body and past the blood-brain barrier, to enter their victims' minds. Others are directly injected into the brain, as in the case of the jewel wasp and its zombie cockroach host.

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Making of a zombie

Jewel wasps are a beautiful if terrifying example of how neurotoxic venoms can do much more than paralyze. The wasp, which is often just a fraction of the size of her victim, begins her attack from above, swooping down and grabbing the roach with her mouth as she aims her "stinger"-a modified egg-laying body part called an ovipositor-at the middle of the body, the thorax, in between the first pair of legs. The quick jab takes only a few seconds, and venom compounds work fast, paralyzing the cockroach temporarily so the wasp can aim her next sting with more accuracy. With her long stinger, she targets her mind-altering venom into two areas of the ganglia, the insect equivalent of a brain.

The wasp's stinger is so well tuned to its victim that it can sense where it is inside the cockroach's dome to inject venom directly into subsections of its brain. The stinger is capable of feeling around in the roach's head, relying on mechanical and chemical cues to find its way past the ganglionic sheath (the insect's version of a blood-brain barrier) and inject venom exactly where it needs to go. The two areas of the roach brain that she targets are very important to her; scientists have artificially clipped them from cockroaches to see how the wasp reacts, and when they are removed, the wasp tries to find them, taking a long time with her stinger embedded in search of the missing brain regions.

Then the mind control begins. First the victim grooms itself, of all things; as soon as the roach's front legs recover from the transient paralysis induced by the sting to the body, it begins a fastidious grooming routine that takes about half an hour. Scientists have shown that this behavior is specific to the venom, as piercing the head, generally stressing the cockroach, or contact with the wasp without stinging activity did not elicit the same hygienic urge. This sudden need for cleanliness can also be induced by a flood of dopamine in the cockroach's brain, so we think that the dopaminelike compound in the venom may be the cause of this germophobic behavior. Whether the grooming itself is a beneficial feature of the venom or a side effect is debated. Some believe that the behavior ensures a clean, fungus- and microbe-free meal for the vulnerable baby wasp; others think it may merely distract the cockroach for some time as the wasp prepares the cockroach's tomb.

Dopamine is one of those intriguing chemicals found in the brains of a broad spectrum of animal life, from insects all the way to humans, and its effects are vital in all these species. In our heads, it's part of a mental "reward system": floods of dopamine are triggered by pleasurable things. Because it makes us feel good, dopamine can be wonderful, but it is also linked to addictive behaviors and the "highs" we feel from illicit substances like cocaine. It's impossible for us to know if a cockroach also feels a rush of insect euphoria when its brain floods with dopamine-but I prefer to think it does. (It just seems too gruesome for the animal to receive no joy from the terrible end it is about to meet.)

While the cockroach cleans, the wasp leaves her victim in search of a suitable location. She needs a dark burrow where she can leave her child and the zombie-roach offering, and it takes a little time to find and prepare the right place. When she returns about 30 minutes later, the venom's effects have taken over-the cockroach has lost all will to flee. In principle, this state is temporary: if you separate an envenomated roach from its would-be assassin before the larva can hatch and feed and pupate, the zombification wears off within a week. Unfortunately for the envenomated cockroach, that's simply too long. Before its brain has a chance to return to normal, the young wasp has already had its fill and killed its host.

The motor abilities of the roach remain intact, but the insect simply doesn't seem inclined to use them. So the venom doesn't numb the animal's senses-it alters how its brain responds to them. Scientists have even shown that the stimuli that normally elicit evasive action, such as touching the roach's wings or legs, still send signals to the animal's brain; they just don't evoke a behavioral response. That's because the venom mutes certain neurons so they are less active and responsive, leading to the roach's sudden lack of fear and willingness to be buried and eaten alive. This venom activity requires toxins that target GABA-gated chloride channels.

GABA, or γ-aminobutyric acid, is one of the most important neurotransmitters in insect-and human-brains. If neuron activity is a party, then GABA is a wet blanket; it dampens a neuron's ability to be triggered through activation of chloride channels. When chloride channels open, they allow negative chloride ions to flow. Because these ions like to hang out with positive ions, if these channels are open when a sodium channel happens to open, chloride ions can cross the membrane at almost the same pace as sodium ions, making it harder for the sodium ions to start the domino cascade that is neuron signaling. Even though a neuron receives the "go" command, the action potential is stopped in its tracks. GABA isn't a complete inhibitor, however-the chloride channels can't wholly keep up with the sodium channels, so a strong stimulus can overcome the dampening effect. This dulling system is what the wasp co-opts to make the cockroach do her bidding. Her venom is packed with GABA and two other compounds that also activate the same chloride receptors, β-alanine and taurine. These also work to prevent the reuptake of GABA by neurons, prolonging the effect.

Although these venom compounds can cut the brain activity that would make her prey flee, what they can't do is make their way to the right parts of the cockroach brain by themselves. That's why the wasp has to inject them directly into the cockroach's ganglia. Fortunately for her, in a convenient quirk of nature, the same venom that zombifies roach brains works like magic to produce the transient paralysis needed to line up the cranial injection. GABA, β-alanine and taurine also temporarily shut down motor neurons, so the wasp needs only one venom to complete two very different tasks.

With her prey calm and quiescent, the wasp can replenish her energy by breaking the roach's antennae and drinking some sweet, nutritious insect blood. Then she leads her victim to its final resting place, using what remains of an antenna as an equestrian uses the reins on a bridle. Once inside her burrow, she attaches one egg to the cockroach's leg, then seals her offspring and the roach in.

Fresh meals

As if the mind manipulation wasn't bad enough, the wasp's venom has one final trick. While the roach awaits its inevitable doom, the venom slows down the roach's metabolism to ensure it lives long enough to be devoured still fresh. One way metabolism can be measured is by how much oxygen is used up over time, as all animals (including us) use oxygen in the process of creating energy from food or fat stores. Scientists have found that oxygen consumption by cockroaches that have been stung is much lower than that of their healthy roach friends. They thought this might be the result of the reduced movement of the complacent victims, but even when paralysis is induced by using drugs or severing neurons, the stung cockroaches live longer. The key to the prolonged survival seems to be hydration. How exactly the venom acts to keep a roach hydrated is not known, but it ensures that when the wasp larva hatches from its egg, its meal is ready to eat. And soon enough after that, a new wasp emerges from the burrow, leaving the roach carcass behind.

Jewel wasp venom is only one example of neurotoxic venom taken to the extreme. There are more than 130 species in the same wasp genus, including the newly described Ampulex dementor (named for the soul-sucking guards of the magical prison Azkaban in the Harry Potter series). Ampulex belongs to a very large and diverse group of wasps, numbering at least in the hundreds of thousands of species, which are known for some serious mental manipulation. All have a macabre life cycle: as adults, they feed like other wasps and bees, but as larvae, they must feed off other animals. They're not quite independent, not quite parasites-they're parasite-ish, or as scientists call them, parasitoids.

Cockroaches are not their only targets; there are parasitoid wasps that lay their eggs in spiders, caterpillars and ants. The temperate Northern Hemisphere wasp Agriotypus will dive underwater to attach her eggs to caddis fly larvae and can remain submerged for up to 15 minutes to accomplish her task. The brave Lasiochalcidia wasps of Europe and Africa throw themselves into the nightmarish jaws of an ant lion, pry them apart and insert their eggs into its throat. There are even wasps called hyperparasitoids that parasitize other wasps like themselves, such as Lysibia species of Europe and Asia, which will sniff out caterpillars parasitized by fellow parasitoid wasps in the genus Cotesia and lay eggs in the freshly pupated wasp larvae. In some cases, multiple wasp species parasitize one another, leading to a Russian doll of parasitic interactions.

And to ensure their safe passage from larva to adulthood, these wasps often gain more than just a meal from their hosts. One of them turns its caterpillar hosts into undead bodyguards that will defend pupating young wasps that just ate through its body. Another species' larva forces its spider host to spin it a deformed but durable web to protect its cocoon just before killing the arachnid.

Whereas the wasps in this unusual family may have perfected the art of mind control, there are other venomous species whose toxins alter mental states. There are even species whose neurotoxic compounds get through our own blood-brain barrier, a feat that no wasp venom can yet achieve. But unlike cockroaches, we Homo sapiens have a strange affinity for substances that mess with our minds. Although the roaches run from those that would twist their brains, some people are willing to pay upward of $500 for a dose of venom to have a similar experience.

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How a Wasp Turns Cockroaches into Zombies

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A special chemical blend injected into the brains of cockroaches makes them pawns in the jewel wasp's control-and perfect live food for its offspring

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MOTH MAKES HOUSE OUT OF A FLOWER (The Yucca Moth)

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Meet the green banded broodsac, a deadly - and frankly - weird zombie parasite that turns a snail’s eyestalks into colourful, pulsating glowsticks

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Nick Baker takes a look at the fascinating life of a green banded broodsac, which turns snails into disco zombies

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Commensalism is a pseudo-partnership in which one species (the commensal) extracts benefits from another (the host) without causing it harm or benefit. The commensal organism obtains food, shelter, locomotion, or support. Commensalism can either be a brief interaction or a lifelong symbiosis.

This contrasts with mutualism, whereby both species prosper; parasitism, in which one species prospers at the cost of another; and amensalism, in which one organism is harmed while the other remains no better or worse for the exchange. There are four types of commensalism, depending on the relationship between the organisms.

Inquilinism is a relationship where one body depends on the other for permanent housing, such as a bird living in a tree hole.

Metabiosis is a relationship where one organism forms a habitat for the other. These include maggots living in dead bodies or hermit crabs using the shells of dead gastropod for protection.

Phoresy is commensalism relationship where an organism attaches to the other for transport. Examples are millipedes on birds and pseudoscorpions on mammals.

Microbiota organisms that form communities within the host organism. These include bacteria on human skin.

The following are ten intriguing examples of commensalism in the wild.

Golden Jackals

The term commensalism was initially coined by a Belgian scientist, Pierre-Joseph van Beneden, in 1876, specifically to refer to scavengers that tailed apex predators to dine on the leftover prey. One such example of this is in Golden jackals. When an unlucky individual is banished from the pack, it is no longer capable of hunting on its own. Instead, it will take to following tigers, staying back in the shadows so as not to disturb the hunter-in-action, and then moving in once the feline has had its fill.

Remora (Sucker Fish)

Another curious example of commensal scavenging is amongst remora fish (eight species that belong to the Echeneidae family). These "suckerfish" painlessly attach themselves to large marine animals, such as sharks, mantas, and whales, wait for them to feed, and then detach to snag some scraps. Though this is an example of commensalism, sometimes remora feed on their host's external parasites, becoming an example of mutualism.

Cattle Egrets

Unlike the remora, Cattle egrets hang out on the backs of large grazing animals, such as cattle and horses, to capitalize on food. When the beasts of burden stir up the ground, the small birds hop down and snatch up exposed insects. They also follow farm machines for the same reason and even poke around airport-adjacent fields, waiting for planes to stir up the grass during takeoff and landing. These forms of opportunistic feeding account for about 50% of a Cattle egret's diet and about one-third of the energy expenditure.

Burdock Plants

If you have been hiking through the thick brush in North America, chances are you have picked a few of this weed's prickly brats off your clothes. The Burdock plant utilizes its spiky, globular flower heads to disperse its seeds across the land. When furry animals pass by, they naturally collect these bundles, which are sharp enough to attach to but not enough to penetrate the thick animal hides. This perfectly represents a special form of commensalism known as phoresy, whereby the commensal species uses a host specifically for transportation.

Pseudoscorpions

Pseuroscorpions also exhibit phoresy in that these arachnids attach themselves to exposed surfaces of host animals like the fur of mammals or beneath the wings of beetles and bees. In this way, these scorpion-like creatures, but without stingers, receive protection from predators. Their small size hardly creates any nuisance to the sheltering animal.

Hermit Crabs

Hermit crabs famously seek shelter in acquired shells. Oftentimes, these squishy crustaceans rely on expired gastropods (snails) to protect themselves. Therefore, this qualifies as an example of metabiosis (another category of commensalism), whereby one species forms a habitat from a dead organism.

Maggots

A less-appealing instance of metabiosis commensalism occurs when maggots inhabit a carcass. They not only feed on the available nutrients but utilize the moist environment to lay their eggs. The next generation of maggots relies on the immediate food source before making their way out of the dead animal's remains.

Arctic Fox

This frisky North American tundra-dweller will sometimes follow caribou around, which helps to indirectly summon preferred food sources. The stocky herbivores dig into the snow to scrounge up lichen plants. After the activity settles down, rodents may come to the surface, at which point the fox will swoop in for the kill. Arctic Foxes are also known to scavenge for remains left behind by polar bears.

Owls

Most owls are known to nest in the natural cavities in trees, cliffs, or buildings, as well as the abandoned nests of hawks or crows. In the first case, since they are not themselves burrowing into the woody plant, they cause no harm to the stalwart specimen. This approach is known as inquilinism, which is a form of commensalism whereby one organism uses another for permanent housing. By this definition, many birds exhibit inquilinism when they build their nests amongst the branches of trees.

Tree Frogs

Tree frogs also rely on arboreal friends for shelter and protection. Unlike nesting birds, these amphibians set up shop underneath large leaves in order to camouflage from predators and hide from the heavy rains. Tree frogs are found on every continent not called Antarctica, so wherever you are, take a peek at the underside of leafy areas, and you might just spot a few of these jumpy creatures.

The plants, animals, and critters of the earth have formed many creative partnerships amongst themselves. Though these can manifest in many ways, the aforementioned low-impact, net-beneficial interactions represent the pleasant side of the natural world.

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Commensalism is a pseudo-partnership in which one species (the commensal) extracts benefits from another (the host) without causing it harm or benefit. The commensal organism obtains food, shelter, locomotion, or support. Commensalism can either be a brief interaction or a lifelong symbiosis.

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Harlequin beetle | Colorful Insects, Natural Predators & Symbiotic Relationships | Britannica

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Harlequin beetle, (Acrocinus longimanus), large tropical American beetle with an elaborate variegated pattern of black with muted red and greenish yellow markings on its wing covers. The common name refers to the beetle’s gaudy pattern; the Latin longimanus of the species name refers to the

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Wonderful Creatures: meet the beetle-riding arachnid

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Without wings, smaller terrestrial animals are really restricted when it comes to moving long distances to find new areas of habitat. However, lots of species get around this problem simply by clinging on to other, more mobile animals. The common, yet overlooked pseudoscorpions are among the most accomplished stowaways, one of which (Cordylochernes scorpiodes) has […]

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Commensalism represents an interaction in which one species benefits while the other remains unharmed. There are four recognized forms of commensalism.