Japanese researchers have found that a wasp which lays its egg on the back of a spider can take control of its behaviour, making its spider slave build a cosy cocoon for its wasp offspring.

After building the nursery for its ungrateful parasitic host the spider dies, having had the lifeblood (and guts) drained from its body by the ever-growing larva.

"It's like the Alien movies but on a miniature scale," said Andy Austin from Adelaide University's Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity.

An expert in the parasitic lifestyles of insects, Professor Austin said the Kobe University research published on Thursday in The Journal of Experimental Biology, was a "really cool study" which perfectly illustrated what is known in biology circles as host manipulation, a common behaviour of parasitic wasps.

"This is their modus operandi, this is what they do," Professor Austin said.

However, he said Keizo Takasuka's research provided an added insight into the field as it was able to show that the web and cocoon the zombie spider made was similar to the type of web it made when moulting.

"The spider normally builds a retreat for itself to hide in when it is moulting and vulnerable but here the spider is building the retreat when the wasp wants it, not when the spider is moulting and needs it," he said.

The study looked at the Reclinervellus nielseni wasp and the way it used and abused the Cyclosa argenteoalba spider - taking control of its mind and body to essentially make it build the nursery and become the pantry for the infant wasp.

The wasp, which exists in Australia, injects the spider with venom before laying an egg which sits on the outside of the spider's body. After hatching, the larvae does some dirty work of its own and uses its teeth-like structures to puncture its host's body and slowly suck out the spider's insides as it grows.

"The big unknown is whether it is the larvae injecting something into the spider, the female wasp injecting the venom or a combination of the two which allows the wasp to manipulate the spider," Professor Austin said.

Dr Takasuka suspects the larva injects a substance similar to a moulting hormone during the later stages of its stay - close to the time when it is ready to pupate.

"It's probably happening in backyards all around us," Professor Austin said. "It's just that it's happening on a microscopic scale and you wouldn't see it."