Not just like any other parasitic wasp, this one recodes the DNA of the host.
Observations of a Nerd: This Week's Sci-Fi Worthy Parasite: Cotesia glomerata
The larvae, which eat the catterpillar from the inside out, target the organs in such an order that the catterpillar lives as long as possible. Once they've had their fill, they exit the catterpillar and pupate, forming their cocoons so they transform into adult wasps. But the poor little catterpillar's job isn't over yet. Before it dies, it spins a web of silk to protect the little babies that just ate its internal organs, and acts like a bodyguard, vehemently defending the metamorphosizing wasps until they emerge.
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"To protect their young from the catterpillar's immune system, [the wasps] coat the eggs in a virus which disables the caterpillar’s immune system and chemically castrates the unlucky bug.... Without the virus to protect them, the larvae would be attacked by the catterpillar's internal defenses and die."
DNA hacking? Kinky.
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