Ladybug Zombie

The title of this article might seem like a joke, but it isn’t: the ladybug zombie is a real thing. A team of entomologists recently discovered that a parasitic wasp can transform a normal, harmless beetle into a zombie bodyguard, using a special virus. The insect’s name is Dinocampus coccinellae, and it’s the first time a biological weapon has been used to manipulate another species in this way.

The first sign of trouble is when something orange and grubby pokes out of the beetle’s stomach. The audience expects a quick, gruesome death for this black-and-red insect, but instead it pupates inside the wasp larva, in a surprisingly clever way. The beetle becomes paralyzed and unable to move, involuntarily twitching its spotted carapace in order to protect the wasp pupa from predators. The beetle’s bright colors are a warning that the parasite inside her tastes awful and is not worth eating, further discouraging predators. The beetle’s brain is also suppressed, allowing the wasp larva to take over its functions and enslave it into its service. This process usually spells the end of most host species, but amazingly, up to 25% of the ladybugs impacted by D. coccinellae recover to live out the rest of their bug lives as zombified babysitters.

Despite the fact that it’s not Halloween, it feels like the right time to talk about the ladybug zombie. This episode of Miraculous Ladybug features several homages to horror movies, including one that might have blown the whole ruse Ladybug has been using on Zombizou had it not been for the intervention of Miss Bustier.

In the episode, we see Marinette losing it at Chloe, who defaced her gift to her and almost got her akumatized by Hawk Moth. This isn’t really out of character for Marinette, who has a tendency to overreact and act selfishly. In the same vein, Miss Bustier is able to save Marinette from getting akumatized when she intervenes in the middle of Hawk Moth trying to use his lipstick to control her.

The climax of the episode comes when Cat Noir tries to stop the zombies from taking over the Eiffel Tower. But the kissing zombies are too fast for him to catch them. Fortunately, they aren’t smart enough to follow the horror movie cliche and bite people who aren’t already infected, so they just walk up to people and kiss them. This distracts the zombies long enough for Ladybug to break everyone out of their trances with her magic and turn them back into normal people. Then she and Cat Noir can finish the job with a helicopter ride.