Lethal Passenger - _TNY_4349
The future of this young European garden spider (Araneus diadematus) isn't looking too bright as that thing on its abdomen is the larvae of a ichnemonid wasp, probably in the Polysphincta genus.
The larvae is a post-embryonic koinobiont ectoparasitoid, meaning it lives on the outside of a adult spider and also that it allows the host to retain it's original behaviour and development while feeding on it.
Ultimately, the host is killed and consumed by the larva just prior to pupation.
Lethal Passenger - _TNY_4349
The future of this young European garden spider (Araneus diadematus) isn't looking too bright as that thing on its abdomen is the larvae of a ichnemonid wasp, probably in the Polysphincta genus.
The larvae is a post-embryonic koinobiont ectoparasitoid, meaning it lives on the outside of a adult spider and also that it allows the host to retain it's original behaviour and development while feeding on it.
Ultimately, the host is killed and consumed by the larva just prior to pupation.