cockroach wasp

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English[edit]

An emerald cockroach wasp, Ampulex compressa

Noun[edit]

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[1]:
      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[2], 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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