Ampulex Compressa Giganteus

Ampulex Compressa Giganteus
Description	The biologically and genetically modified wasps responsible for the zombie outbreak.
Location	Willamette Las Vegas Still Creek Fortune City Los Perdidos

"They were doing research on some parasitic insect...like a wasp. A wasp that turns living things into zombies."

—Isabela Keyes discussing the Ampulex Compressa Giganteus.

Ampulex Compressa Giganteus are the biologically and genetically modified wasps responsible for the zombie outbreak. Carlito unleashes these wasps on Willamette, zombifying almost the entire population. Dr. Russell Barnaby is one of the scientists who helped to create them, originally intended to curb a beef shortage. Queens are the adult version seen in-game.

Origins and Significance

The Ampulex Compressa Giganteus originated from the region bordering the Pachacamac River near the Central American town of Santa Cabeza. A U.S. government-funded research facility was established in the town, whose scientific personnel, lead by Dr. Russell Barnaby, aimed to find a way to accelerate reproduction of the local cattle population for rapidly-increasing American consumer demand. During their research, they discovered the species' presence. It was a previously unidentified and undiscovered species of insect. Though the species was much larger and more aggressive than its similarly-resembled wasp and bee counterparts, the laboratory staff referred to them as such when speaking casually. The team also witnessed firsthand the insect's birth process and its dependency upon host species to live. The wasps also possessed their own version of queens, mature insect matriarchs who conduct the hosting process.

Dr. Barnaby and his research team were going to harness the species and use its abnormal but useful properties to accelerate the production of meat, by using the parahormone to stimulate cattle's appetites and to lead to fatter cows. They experimented on rats and cattle to see what the new species would do to its host and witnessed it zombifying the rats and cattle. Unfortunately, a queen escaped the facility; instead, they witnessed the horrifying effect the species had on humans.

The fully grown ACG specimens appear to have an adverse effect on human hosts, or "zombies", as they can make their heads explode if crushed. This could have something to do with pheromones.

Life Cycle: The Parasitic Process

1. A fertilized female incubates its eggs within the womb.
2. When the parasite discovers a potential host (generally the South American butterfly known as Thysania Agrippina), it injects an egg into the host's body.
3. The virus injected along with the egg effectively prevents the host's immune system from recognizing the contamination, facilitating the larva's growth while keeping the host's physiology blissfully unaware of the danger lurking within.
4. The larva excretes a parahormone that stimulates the host's appetite, then absorbs the resultant nutrients to fuel its own growth cycle.
5. Once the parasite has grown to the appropriate stage, it devours the host from within, emerging from its cocoon as a full-fledged adult.

Notes: Stage five is observed during Dr. Barnaby's death scene. The wasp induced "crazed" convulsions and seemed to cause a lot of havoc in its victim.

Dead Rising

Queens are first encountered by Frank inside the warehouse around 6 pm. Before it can sting Frank, he swats it out of the air and stomps on it, causing all the surrounding zombies to immediately die. After this, queens can be found anywhere on certain zombies and can be used to kill large groups of zombies. These zombies stand in the same spot and move their arms in the air, almost like they are yawning, and will sometimes throw up blood (stunning Frank if he comes in contact with it), then will fall to the ground and their heads will literally explode. Zombies that have a queen attached to them are immune to its effects. When Frank drinks a nectar juice, a queen will automatically be attracted, and queen zombies become more common. The queen can be picked as if an ordinary weapon and will be stored in a jar which can then be thrown at the ground near Frank or in the distance. The queens will not harm Frank. However, at night the queen larvae which are glowing green that come out of the zombies killed using the queen will jump at Frank, but barely causing any damage. The queens, specifically ten, are used by Isabella to temporarily halt the zombie infection on Frank along with other ingredients in after the Special Forces invade and the survivors escape the mall.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero

Queens are first encountered by Chuck as he exits the scrapyard for the second time, after he returns the bike chassis. Before it can sting Chuck, he swats it out of the air and steps on it, which was followed immediately by the zombies surrounding him dying. After this, queens can be found anywhere on certain zombies. The Queen is exactly the same as the first game, but is slightly larger, and has a blur to it when it moves.

Dead Rising 2

Chuck first encounters a Queen after the second dose of Zombrex on Katey. He immediately swats it and the Queen falls half dead to the ground. He then steps on it and the heads of the zombies explode. In Dead Rising 2, the queens are the reason for the Fortune City outbreak, since it was caused to extract them from the zombies in order to raise the prices and production of Zombrex.

Dead Rising 3

While delivering a body of a girl to his client, Gary Finkel shows Nick what happens to zombies when a queen gets killed: their heads explode.

Dead Rising 4

During the events of Dead Rising 4, a vaccine has been created to make humans immune to the parasite and the virus. However, an older strain of the parasite, unaffected by the vaccine and to Zombrex, resurfaces to allow the parasite to make zombies and terrorize the population once again. Furthermore, Obscuris has secretly been running zombie experiments by making clones and infecting them to study the infection and modifying zombies; making them stronger, faster, smarter, and speeding up the rate of zombification from days to seconds, in hope of producing cheap, immortal labour.

Trivia

• In real life, Ampulex Compressa is the taxonomic name of the Emerald Cockroach Wasp. They are native to South Asia and the Pacific Islands but were accidentally introduced to South America, becoming an invasive species.