Cuckoo wasp
| Cuckoo wasp | ||||||||||||
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Ceropales cf. maculata |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ceropales maculata | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1775) |
The cuckoo wasp ( Ceropales maculata ) is a hymenoptera from the family of the wasps (Pompilidae). The name cuckoo wasp suggests the behavior of Ceropales maculata , similar to how the cuckoo lay an egg in the nest of another species, where the larva develops quickly and feeds at the expense of the offspring of the other wasps.
features
The animals reach a body length of 5.5 to 10 millimeters (females) or 4.5 to 7.5 millimeters (males). The second and third tergites of the abdomen are black, as are the antennae . The front wing nerve runs obliquely. In the similar Ceropales albicincta, this is vertical, and its antennae flagella is orange on the underside.
Occurrence
The species occurs in the entire Palearctic north to the Arctic Circle . It colonizes various sandy habitats. The animals fly in several generations from early June to late September. The species is widespread in Central Europe.
Way of life
Females of Ceropales maculata usually attack a female from the wasp genera Pompilus , Arachnospila , Agenioideus , Anoplius or Episyron and probably also Priocnemis , while this in turn carries a captured spider into the nest as prey. During the fight, at least one female cuckoo wasp lays an egg in the spider's fan lung . The female host then carries the spider into her nest. The larva of the parasitoid develops faster than that of the host and first eats any conspecifics that may be present, then the host larva and feeds on the spider within the next 10 days until its larval development is complete.
Systematics
The cuckoo wasp belongs within the subfamily Ceroplinae to the tribe Ceropalini. Within the genus Ceropales it is counted to the subgenus Ceropales , ie Ceropales in the narrower sense.
The following subspecies have been described:
- Ceropales maculata maculata ( Fabricius , 1775)
- Ceropales maculata major Costa , 1888
- Ceropales maculata perligera ( Costa , 1882)
supporting documents
literature
- Rolf Witt: Wasps. Observe, determine. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-89440-243-1 .
Web links
- Ceropales maculata at Fauna Europaea
- www.biolib.cz - taxonomy, photos