 
The dementor wasp Ampulex dementor (named for the soul-sucking creatures in Harry Potter) was recently discovered in Cambodia and Vietnam. This wasp injects venom into a cockroach's body. 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. This doesn't kill the cockroach, but prevents it from making spontaneous movements, rendering it zombie-like. The dementor wasp then leads it, like a dog on a leash, to its burrow, where it leaves it, after injecting it with its eggs. The cockroach is still alive, and is slowly eaten by the larvae as they hatch and mature over the course of about eight days.  |