Cockroach killer wasp

[gadunka888]

these guys paralyze cockroaches and lay eggs on them so that their larvae can have food to eat! There are 3 forms, the blue one( in the pic), green one and blue with orange legs!

 

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[SIZE=14pt]cool do they olny go after roaches, over here in the states we have some that will take any kind of insects not just roaches.[/SIZE]

 

[Christian]

Sphecid wasps won't take "any kind of insects" but are host specific. Ampulex, that's the one in the pic, only takes Periplaneta roaches.

 

[ABbuggin]

Cool. I enjoy seeing these pics/videos of exotic insects.

 

[gadunka888]

thanks for the ID Christian.

From wikipedia:

Most species sting the roach more than once and in a specific way. The first sting is directed at nerve ganglions in the cockroach's thorax, temporarily paralyzing the victim for 2–5 minutes - more than enough time for the wasp to deliver a second sting. The second sting is directed into a region of the cockroach's brain that controls the escape reflex among other things. When the cockroach has recovered from the first sting, it makes no attempt to flee. The wasp clips the antenna with its mandibles and drinks some of the haemolymph before walking backwards and dragging the roach by its clipped antenna to a burrow, where an egg will be laid upon it.

wow i never knew that! My mother used to see lots of these wasps eating cockroaches when she was young.

 

[Morpheus uk]

Saw someone on flickr once who actually bred these, bet it would be very interesting.

 

[ABbuggin]

Saw someone on flickr once who actually bred these, bet it would be very interesting.

Oh, wow! Does sound like fun.

 

[Orin]

Sphecid wasps won't take "any kind of insects" but are host specific. Ampulex, that's the one in the pic, only takes Periplaneta roaches.

Imagine if you could get it to lay an egg on a Blaptica dubia female.