Wasps may turn ladybugs into zombies with viral weapons

Parasitic wasps use Coleomegilla maculata and other lady beetle species, like the one pictured above, as egg incubators and then turn them into stoic, mindless guards for cocooning pupae. Their secret weapon may be an RNA virus that triggers an immune response in the ladybug's cerebral ganglia.
Keith Marshall/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)