Horrifying parasitic wasp with a giant head is one of more than 100 newfound species discovered in the Amazon

Scientists in the Amazon have discovered a giant-headed, bright-yellow wasp that stabs its hosts and sucks out its bloodlike fluid before eating its hosts from the inside out.

The newfound species, which was found in the National Reserve of Allpahuayo-Mishana in Peru, is named Capitojoppa amazonica. Its genus name is a combination of “capito,” a reference to its large, bulbous head; and “joppa,” because the newfound wasp is similar to ones in the genus Joppa. 

Brandon Claridge, a doctoral candidate in biology at Utah State University, and colleagues discovered the strange wasp species as part of a long-term surveying process, in which they laid malaise traps, large, tent-like structures that capture flying insects in the understory of the rainforest. The new wasp, which can grow up to 0.7 inch (1.7 centimeters) long, is a “solitary endoparasitoid,” meaning it lays a single egg inside the body of its host. Caterpillars, beetles, and even spiders can fall prey to this voracious parasite.