Jewel wasp
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Jewel wasp ( Ampulex compressa ) |
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| Ampulex compressa | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1781) |
The jewel wasp ( Ampulex compressa ) is a parasitic living grave wasp from the family of ampulicidae . It occurs in the tropical areas of India , Africa and the Pacific region. Their breeding behavior is unique.
features
The jewel wasp is one of the larger species of the genus Ampulex . The females become up to 22 millimeters long, the males stay a little smaller. Their blue-green-metallic shiny body and the red-colored thighs of the rear and middle pairs of legs are particularly striking .
The females have some adaptations that are largely important for their breeding behavior. These include the laterally flattened (compress) gaster , the nose-like faceplate and the crescent-shaped mandibles , which are also bent upwards . The females have a venomous sting that the males lack , as is common in hymenoptera .
distribution
Originally mainly native to the oriental region of the Paleotropic , the jewel wasps are now found in Australia and the Malay Archipelago, as well as on many islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans such as the Seychelles , the Cook Islands , the Midway Islands , St. Helena , Mauritius and Réunion , New Caledonia and Hawaii have been introduced.
Way of life
The jewel wasp uses the American cockroach ( Periplaneta americana ), the Australian cockroach ( Periplaneta australasiae ) or the harlequin cockroach ( Neostylopyga rhombifolia ) as host . After a sting in the thorax that paralyzes the forelegs , the wasp places a second targeted sting in a specific area of the ganglia and thus paralyzes the cockroach's reflex to flee. The wasp then, since it is too small to carry the cockroach, leads the insect thus prepared by one of its antennae to a cave, where it lays an egg on the cockroach's body and locks the animal in the cave. The cockroach makes no attempt to break free because of the manipulation of its nervous system.
Once hatched, the parasitoid larva of the jewel wasp gradually consumes its host over the course of a week until the cockroach finally dies. The larva then pupates in the cockroach's shell. It forms a brown cocoon from which it hatches after about four weeks. It takes about 30 to 50 days from egg-laying to hatching.
Jewel Wasp and Human
Attempts to use the breeding behavior of the jewel wasp as a means of biological pest control (1941 in Hawaii ) failed due to the wasps' territorial way of life and the relatively small number of cockroaches required for breeding, which are unable to decimate the cockroach population.
The jewel wasp is often kept in terrariums because of its iridescent colors.
Web links
- Jewel wasp hatching from a cockroach (YouTube video)
- Simone Einzmann: The Marionette Players. In: Brain & Mind, 1–2, pp. 62–67, 2010
Individual evidence
- ↑ Richard Mitchell Bohart and Arnold S. Menke: Sphecid wasps of the world: a generic revision. University of California Press, 1976, pp. 74-78 ISBN 978-0-52002-318-5
- ↑ Gal Haspel, Lior Ann Rosenberg and Frederic Libersat: Direct Injection of Venom by a Predatory Wasp into Cockroach Brain. Journal of Neurobiology, 56, 4, pp. 287–292, 2003 doi : 10.1002 / new.10238 PDF (English)
- ↑ FX Williams: Ampulex compressa (Fabr.), A cockroach-hunting wasp introduced from New Caledonia into Hawaii. Procedures of the Hawaiian Entomological Society, 11, pp. 221-233, 1942