BBC Newsbeat: ‘Soul-sucking dementor wasp’ among new species already at risk says WWF

Named Ampulex dementor, it steals its prey’s “free will”, paralysing it with a sting before eating it alive.

But according to animal charity WWF the wasp and many of the other new species are already under threat.

Discovered in Greater Mekong, it lives in one of the top five threatened habitats in the world, according to the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund.

Visitors to Berlin’s natural history museum chose the name of the wasp in honour of the dementor characters from the Harry Potter series who steal people’s souls.

The dementor wasp preys on cockroaches, injecting a venom into their belly that turns the roach into a “passive zombie”, according to WWF.

Although the cockroach is capable of movement, it cannot direct it’s own body, allowing the wasp to drag it to a safe place before eating it.

To read the complete article and about the other new species, click here.