How Old is the Oldest Wasps?
WouterDuring the Jurassic period, wasps appeared. Many of these were solitary. But later, social wasps developed, and they live in colonies. Today, the majority of wasps do not live in colonies. They are predators that feed on other insects and plants.
The oldest wasps are thought to be related to snakeflies. The earliest wasps have elongated bodies and mobile heads. They probably lived on the same planet as dinosaurs. They may have been predators or parasitoids. They stung other insects to feed developing offspring.
These parasitoids lay eggs inside other insects. Their life cycle includes laying eggs, eating, and re-feeding. They parasitize spiders and other insects.
There are several hundred thousand species of wasps and wasp parasitoids. Some of these werep parasitoids are very similar to bees.
Another species of parasitic wasp lays eggs inside spiders and other insects. It then injects eggs through a pointed egg-laying tube. These parasitic wasps may have been associated with insects as long as 200 million years ago. They also may have had a very long association with viruses. However, it is still uncertain as to whether they have been associated with viruses since the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary.
The oldest wasps in the fossil record were found in the Mid-Triassic, a time when dinosaurs and apes were still alive. The fossils of these insects showed that they were almost identical to the modern species. These insects also had a burrow about four to six millimeters wide and 150 mm long.
