A new species of wasp has been named after the soul sucking dementors of the Harry Potter book series. Ampulex dementor, also known as the dementor wasp, is only one of 139 new species discovered last year in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia, but it is most certainly the scariest.
The wasp’s name was chosen by popular vote by fisitors to the Berlin Natural History Museum. The wasp renders prey motionless with an injection of toxins to paralyze the victims then eats them alive.
Scientists decided to involve the public in the naming the insect to draw attention the the endanged animals of the vulnerable habitat in the Greater Mekong ecosystem. Events like this increase people curiosity about local and global fauna and nature.
