What’s worse than a wasp’s sting? Murder - Miles Zhang

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

A cockroach and jewel wasp are locked in battle—

一隻蟑螂和一隻扁頭泥蜂 在對戰中僵持，

but not for long.

但沒持續太久。

The wasp latches onto the cockroach, arcs her body,

泥蜂抓住蟑螂，

蜷曲身體，將牠的螫針精準地

and inserts her stinger precisely into a cluster of nerves

刺入蟑螂胸部的一堆神經當中。

in the cockroach’s thorax.

The venom that surges out temporarily paralyzes the cockroach’s front legs.

湧出的毒液

讓蟑螂的前腳暫時癱瘓。

She then stings its brain,

接著，牠去螫蟑螂的大腦，

where her venom blocks its fight-or-flight response.

牠的毒液在蟑螂的大腦中 阻擋了蟑螂的戰或逃反應。

From here on out, the cockroach is essentially a zombie.

從這之後，

這隻蟑螂就和喪屍沒什麼兩樣了。

The wasp snaps the cockroach’s antennae in half,

泥蜂將蟑螂的觸鬚折斷，

uses the broken pieces as straws to feed off its blood-like hemolymph,

用斷掉的觸鬚當作吸管，

大啖如血液般的血淋巴，

then leads it into a subterranean lair.

再把蟑螂帶到牠隱密的窩裡。

She lays an egg on her victim and carefully seals the burrow,

牠在牠的受害者身上下蛋，

並仔細地封住巢穴，

which becomes her offspring’s nursery— and the cockroach’s crypt.

這個巢穴就成了牠後代的育兒室——

以及蟑螂的地窖。

Over the following weeks,

在接下來的幾週，

her larva hatches, bores into the cockroach,

牠的幼蟲孵化了，

鑽進蟑螂體內，

eats it alive, pupates in its carcass,

把牠給活吃了， 在牠的屍體裡變成蛹，

and emerges as an iridescent adult.

出來時就是色彩亮麗的成蟲了。

This gruesome tale is just one example of parasitoidism,

這個噁心可怕的故事

只是類寄生現象的一個例子，

an evolutionary strategy employed by most wasps.

大部分的黃蜂都會採用 這種演化出來的策略。

Parasitoids feed off other animals as they develop,

擬寄生生物在生成過程中 會以其他動物為食，

usually killing their hosts in the process.

牠們的宿主通常 會在這個過程中死亡。

In fact, these insects are about to meet their ends by way of wasps—

事實上，這些昆蟲都將要以 黃蜂之道走到生命的終點——

each in a uniquely dreadful manner.

每一隻的可怕死法都獨一無二。

This wasp targets the ladybug, planting an egg inside its body.

這隻黃蜂以瓢蟲為目標，

在牠的體內下蛋，

When the larva hatches, it consumes the beetle’s body fat.

幼蟲孵化之後，會吃光 這隻甲蟲的體脂肪。

It eventually emerges, but the ladybug’s duty isn’t done.

最終會牠爬出來，

但瓢蟲的職責還未完。

It’s now semi-paralyzed, possibly due to a viral infection the wasp gave it.

牠現在是半癱瘓狀態，

可能是因為黃蜂帶給牠的病毒感染。

The larva spins a cocoon between its legs,

幼蟲會在牠的腳之間結繭，

and the still-alive-but-bewitched beetle stands guard.

而這隻仍然活著卻被施術的甲蟲

會保持警戒。

When a predatory lacewing larva approaches,

當一隻捕食性的草蜻蛉幼蟲靠近時，

the ladybug twitches, scaring it off.

瓢蟲會抽動，把牠嚇跑。

Many other creatures avoid the ladybug altogether

許多其他生物會一併避開這隻瓢蟲，

because of its bright coloration, which advertises its toxicity.

因為牠明亮的顏色

代表牠具有毒性。

After a week, an adult wasp appears,

一週之後，一隻成年黃蜂出現，

leaving its hapless helper’s corpse behind.

丟下這個倒楣幫手的屍體。

Next is the tiny but fierce crypt-keeper wasp,

接下來，是小型但可怕的守穴黃蜂，

which targets gall wasp larvae like this one.

牠的目標是癭蜂幼蟲，就像這隻。

The gall wasp larva is also parasitic, but in a more vegetarian sense.

癭蜂幼蟲也會寄生，

但可以說比較是素食派的。

It’s feasting on this oak tree,

牠在享用這棵橡樹，

tucked away in a chamber on one of its branches.

在其中一個分枝內的 空腔裡大吃特吃。

Soon, it has company.

沒多久，牠就有伴了。

The crypt-keeper wasp adds her egg into the mix.

守穴黃蜂把牠的蛋混入其中。

The gall wasp develops, and eventually begins chewing its way out,

癭蜂漸長大，最後開始 啃食出一條出路，

as it normally would.

癭蜂通常都會這麼做。

But it makes a smaller-than-usual hole and gets stuck.

但牠挖的洞比一般的更小，

卡在洞口。

The crypt-keeper larva eats through the gall wasp’s corpse, pupates within it,

守穴黃蜂幼蟲會 一路吃穿癭蜂的屍體，

在屍體內變成蛹，

then makes its debut, crawling out of the dead wasp’s head.

接著便初次露臉，

從黃蜂屍體的頭部爬出來。

The final victim is this caterpillar.

最後一位受害者是這隻毛蟲。

It would have become an owlet moth that fluttered in the cool night air,

牠本來會變成一隻魔目夜蛾，

在涼爽的夜晚振翅飛行，

but a few weeks ago, while developing in its egg,

但，幾週前，

牠還在蛋中成長時，

this wasp injected an egg of her own.

這隻黃蜂跑來注入自己的蛋。

The caterpillar hatched and began growing.

毛蟲孵化後開始長大。

And in a process called polyembryony,

在被稱為「多胚現象」的過程中，

the wasp spawn divides repeatedly inside of it.

黃蜂的卵在裡面不斷分裂。

But a second kind of wasp also lays her eggs on the caterpillar.

但有第二種黃蜂也在毛蟲身上下蛋。

The original brood senses this

原本的卵感受到了這個狀況，

and further develops into two distinct castes.

進一步發展為兩個不同的集群。

What was one egg becomes thousands of larvae:

一個卵變成了數千隻幼蟲：

some of them are reproductives, others are soldiers.

有些負責繁殖，有些則是士兵。

The caterpillar is now both wasp buffet and battleground.

現在，毛蟲既是黃蜂的自助餐 也是牠們的戰場。

As the reproductive larvae consume its insides,

繁殖的幼蟲在吃牠的內部，

the soldiers kill the other parasitoids.

士兵則負責殺掉其他擬寄生生物。

The reproductive larvae morph into adults and the soldiers die within the host.

負責繁殖的幼蟲蛻 變成成蟲，而士兵則戰死，

死在宿主體內。

Needless to say, the result for the caterpillar is ... very bad.

不用說，毛蟲的下場……

非常慘。

This was just a peek into the prolific province of parasitoid wasps.

有各式各樣的黃蜂， 上述這些只是冰山一角。

Some venture underwater to find their hosts.

有些黃蜂會冒險到水中 尋找牠們的宿主。

Others are hyperparasitoids, whose victims are other parasitoid wasps.

也有些黃蜂是重擬寄生生物，

牠們的受害者是其他擬寄生生物。

Scientists are still pulling back the curtain on these creatures.

科學家還在努力揭開 這些生物的面紗。

They can be hard to collect and quite small:

牠們很小且很難收集到：

the world’s tiniest known insect is a microscopic wasp

世界上已知最小的昆蟲，是微黃蜂，

that parasitizes barklice eggs.

會寄生於嚙蟲的卵內。

Though much remains unknown,

雖然所知甚少，

some researchers suspect that parasitoid wasps

有些研究者懷疑，擬寄生黃蜂

are among the most diverse animal groups—

是最多樣性的動物類別之一——

perhaps the most diverse.

甚至可能沒有「之一」。

Wasps have been perfecting their brand of parasitism

黃蜂一直致力將牠們的 類寄生品牌做到完美，

for some 247 million years,

已經超過兩億四千七百萬年，

all to give their offspring the very best opportunities life has to offer.

目的全是要給牠們的後代 最好的生存機會。