Their heads are curiously reminiscent of  a cartoon reindeer, but their life-cycle is quite different from any mammal.

Eucharitid wasps are a parasitoid species that develop within ant nests and feed on the ant brood (the host larvae do not survive the experience).

The fully mature male eucharatinae emerge from the nest and wait for the females. The eggs are fertilized soon after the females leave the nest and  their eggs are laid on plant buds, leaves, fruit, and occasionally on other insects (ant prey) as an intermediate host.

The eucharatinae larvae fasten to foraging ants and are carried back to the nest where they attach themselves to host ant larvae (there are external and internal parasitic species, but all species complete their development as ectoparasites, on the surface of the host).

The adults are from 2.0 to 5.4 mm (~ 0.1 to 0.2 inches) in length.

[Image: getty images; Rundstedt B. Rovillos ]

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