Stylops shannoni

Stylops shannoni is a small creature you have no reason to care about. Absolutely none. It is an insect parasite, most noted by Jeyaraney Kathirithamby (say that three times fast) for its twisted wings. Perhaps because of his long name, J.K. has a tendency to be long-winded, and takes a great deal of words merely to say that the males live inside other insects for a while and then come out when they’re good and ready. The entire purpose of the remainder of their life is to find and fertilize a female, which tells you how totally unlike our society theirs is.
J.K.’s one apparent trace of character is his comparison of the eyes of these parasites to raspberries; I realize that I am turning this more into a discussion of J.K. than of Stylops, so I shall attempt to get back on subject. The females, by contrast (to the males, that is, not to J.K.) retain a larval appearance and for the most part remain sedentary throughout their lives. They lack eyes, wings, legs, antennae and other things I don’t plan to tell you about because it would get you curious about how the males intend to go about their task, and I neither know nor have the desire to know the details. If you wish to know more about this spectacularly uninteresting creature, search for the word “instar”, as J.K. certainly uses it more than he ought. I’m sorry, I’m going on about J.K. again, but I simply can’t help it. He bothers me.