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Cuckoo Wasps in the genus Chrysis are small to medium metallic wasps, about 6 to 12 mm long. The body shines brilliant blue, green or blue-green, and the hard outer skin is covered with deep, coarse pits that give it a hammered look. The abdomen has only three visible plates from above, and the tip of the last plate usually ends in four or more small tooth-like points. The underside of the abdomen is hollowed out, so when disturbed the wasp can roll into a tight ball. These are real, US-collected specimens from Douglas County, Wisconsin.
The genus is found nearly worldwide, with about 77 species in the United States and Canada (most of them in the West). Adults visit flowers, sunny walls, bare ground and the nests of their hosts. They are often seen around wooden posts, clay banks and gardens where solitary wasps and bees nest.
Cuckoo Wasps do not dig nests or raise their own young. A female searches for the nests of solitary wasps or bees, especially mud daubers, potter wasps, crabronid wasps and some leaf-cutter and digger bees. She slips into a nest, lays an egg and leaves. Her larva then eats the host’s larva or its food store. Adults drink nectar from flowers but do not collect pollen. When threatened they curl into a ball rather than sting; the sting is reduced to an egg-laying tube and they cannot really sting people.
Like other wasps, they go through complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult). The egg is laid in a host nest that has already been stocked. The larva feeds on the host or its provisions, then pupates inside the nest cell. Adults emerge the next season and mate. Many species fly in summer and early fall.
Cuckoo Wasps have little economic importance. They do not damage plants, wood or buildings. They are colorful native insects and a natural part of the food web that includes solitary wasps and bees. Finding them usually means their host wasps are nesting nearby.
This preserved specimen educates on the brilliant parasitic wasps that live by invading the nests of other wasps and bees, suitable for displays or studies. Check it out on BugGuide! https://bugguide.net/node/view/8067
Cuckoo Wasps in the genus Chrysis are small to medium metallic wasps, about 6 to 12 mm long. The body shines brilliant blue, green or blue-green, and the hard outer skin is covered with deep, coarse pits that give it a hammered look. The abdomen has only three visible plates from above, and the tip of the last plate usually ends in four or more small tooth-like points. The underside of the abdomen is hollowed out, so when disturbed the wasp can roll into a tight ball. These are real, US-collected specimens from Douglas County, Wisconsin.
The genus is found nearly worldwide, with about 77 species in the United States and Canada (most of them in the West). Adults visit flowers, sunny walls, bare ground and the nests of their hosts. They are often seen around wooden posts, clay banks and gardens where solitary wasps and bees nest.
Cuckoo Wasps do not dig nests or raise their own young. A female searches for the nests of solitary wasps or bees, especially mud daubers, potter wasps, crabronid wasps and some leaf-cutter and digger bees. She slips into a nest, lays an egg and leaves. Her larva then eats the host’s larva or its food store. Adults drink nectar from flowers but do not collect pollen. When threatened they curl into a ball rather than sting; the sting is reduced to an egg-laying tube and they cannot really sting people.
Like other wasps, they go through complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult). The egg is laid in a host nest that has already been stocked. The larva feeds on the host or its provisions, then pupates inside the nest cell. Adults emerge the next season and mate. Many species fly in summer and early fall.
Cuckoo Wasps have little economic importance. They do not damage plants, wood or buildings. They are colorful native insects and a natural part of the food web that includes solitary wasps and bees. Finding them usually means their host wasps are nesting nearby.
This preserved specimen educates on the brilliant parasitic wasps that live by invading the nests of other wasps and bees, suitable for displays or studies. Check it out on BugGuide! https://bugguide.net/node/view/8067
