If you haven’t already met Ampulex compressa, otherwise known as the jewel wasp, now is as good a time as any. Someday you may be very grateful that you did.

This gorgeous animal, which measures just under an inch from mandibles to tail, lives across much of Africa and Asia, as well as a few Pacific Islands. Don’t be fooled by its lovely glittering appearance, though. This is a deeply sinister creature. Jewel wasps don’t rear their young in a familiar paper nest. For them, home is the inside of a cockroach.

When the female wasps are ready to lay their eggs, they take to the air and search for roaches. They find them on trees, on the ground, and even in