cockroach wasp

English

An emerald cockroach wasp, Ampulex compressa

Noun

cockroach wasp (plural cockroach wasps)

  1. Any wasp of the family Ampulicidae, small sphecoid wasps that prey on cockroaches to lay their eggs on them.
    • 2007, Craig Childs, The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild, unnumbered page,
      The emerald cockroach wasp, Ampulex compressa, uses a cockroach as a host by essentially taking over its mind.
    • 2010, Lynas Murdoch, Four Years on St Helena‎, page 92:
      Equally fascinating was a video shot by Norman Hoyle, the school's Deputy Head, which showed a cockroach having been stung by a cockroach wasp (Ampulex Compressa) - though I seem to recall that the locals had a different name for it.
    • 2011, Peter K. L. Ng, Richard Corlett, Hugh T. W. Tan (editors), Singapore Biodiversity, page 268,
      Mainly found in the tropics, cockroach wasps have a metallic green body and measure up to 33 mm long. […] When a prey is located, the female cockroach wasp stings the prey to paralyse it.

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Further reading

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