E Pluribus Unum

Just when you're totally immersed in whatever it is you're doing in life, you stumble over a whole 'nother universe hiding, right there, in plain sight. It's like God is saying "Hello! I'm busy right now. Take a seat and I'll get with you asap."

This is one of those times:

Ampulex compressa is a wasp that has evolved to tackle roaches, insert a stinger into their brains and disable their escape reflexes. This lets the wasp use the roach's antennae to steer the roach to its lair, where it can lay its egg in it.

The larva grows inside the roach, devouring the organs of its host, for about eight days. It is then ready to weave itself a cocoon--which it makes within the roach as well. After four more weeks, the wasp grows to an adult. It breaks out of its cocoon, and out of the roach as well. Seeing a full-grown wasp crawl out of a roach suddenly makes those Alien movies look pretty derivative.

(HT to Cory)