After the Floods...The Plague (Of Parasitic Wasps)

As the clearing up from nationwide floods of near Biblical proportions has barely been completed, an insect previously considered as a tropical species, and so vile that movies have been made of its 'horrifying' life cycle, has been discovered on Irish soil.

The murderous parasitic wasp was discovered accidentally by a researcher in Ardkill while studying the life-cycle of tiny marsh flies in Irish fields.

Dr Chris Williams was observing marsh fly pupae in jam jars waiting for flies to hatch on his desk, but what he saw was the disturbing sight of wasp larvae emerging from the bodies, consuming the fly maggots from the inside out.

Inspiration to the horror film Aliens, in which humans are implanted with alien embryos that emerge killing their hosts, the parasitic wasps are of the order Parasitoid, known for their ruthless manner of reproduction.

It is the first parasitic wasp species to be discovered in Ireland and has been named mesoleptus hibernica after the ancient Latin name for Ireland.

(DW)