Ampulex dementor
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| Ohl , 2014 |
Ampulex dementor is in Thailand -based grave wasp from the family of ampulicidae whose larvae of cockroaches feed. The species is named after the Dementors from the Harry Potter novel series . During the Long Night of the Museums in January 2012,visitors to the Berlin Museum of Natural History were able tochoose a name from several suggestions. The idea for this campaign came from Michael Ohl, an employee of the museum. The aim of this media-effective name finding wasto bringtopics such as biological diversity and the scientific naming of animal and plant species closer tothe public.
features
The mandibles , most of the head shield and the two front segments of the chest area are light red, the majority of the head and the abdomen are black. The females are about 10 to 11 millimeters long. The length of the males is unknown as it has not yet been found and described.
Way of life
This digger wasp imitates ants in its appearance and movement pattern . The female animal paralyzes cockroaches with a sting of its sting, during which a poison is injected into the prey, which blocks the octopamine receptors. The cockroaches are not killed by the poison, but they are no longer able to control their movements. This allows the wasp to direct its prey to its nest, where it lays eggs on the cockroach. When the parasitoid larvae of grave wasp hatch, they eat the cockroach, pupate and leave as imagines the brood cell.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Michael Ohl, Volker Lohrmann, Laura Breitkreuz, Lukas Kirschey and Stefanie Krause: The Soul-Sucking Wasp by Popular Acclaim - Museum Visitor Participation in Biodiversity Discovery and Taxonomy . PLoS ONE, 9, 4, e95068, 2014 doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0095068
literature
- Michael Ohl, Volker Lohrmann, Laura Breitkreuz, Lukas Kirschey and Stefanie Krause: The Soul-Sucking Wasp by Popular Acclaim - Museum Visitor Participation in Biodiversity Discovery and Taxonomy . PLoS ONE, 9, 4, e95068, 2014 doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0095068 first description
Web links
- The Soul-Sucking Wasp by Popular Acclaim - Museum Visitor Participation in Biodiversity Discovery and Taxonomy . First description, online, in English, accessed on June 2, 2015