"I've seen a lot of strange insects, but this has to be one of the most peculiar-looking ones I've seen in a while," said one entomologist.

Lars Vilhelmsen, co-author of the study from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, said the wasp has a ‘small bear trap attached to the end of it’. ‘When I looked at the first specimen, I noticed ...

However, the hind wings aren’t its only striking features. S. charybdis appears to have evolved a unique, three-flapped abdominal setup similar to the leaves of a Venus flytrap. The paddle-like lower ...

Scientists have identified a new species of wasp trapped in amber for 99-million years and a remarkable bottom!

Researchers named the parasitic creature Sirenobethylus charybdis —both after the sirens of Greek mythology that lured in sailors to their doom and after Charybdis, a mythical sea monster that created ...

Bizarre parasitic wasps preserved in amber about 99 million years ago had trap-like abdomens that they may have used to immobilise other insects ...

The parasitic wasp’s abdomen boasts a set of flappy paddles lined with thin bristles, resembling “a small bear trap attached to the end of it,” said study co-author Lars Vilhelmsen from the ...

(CN) — Scientists have unearthed a 99-million-year-old wasp preserved in amber that they say represents not just a new species but an entirely new family of insects from the mid-Cretaceous period.

An extraordinary extinct wasp found preserved in amber may have ... charybdis may be the lower flap of the trap-like abdomen, which may have acted like a Venus flytrap plant, says Vilhelmsen.