cuckoo wasp

cuckoo wasp, (family Chrysididae), any member of a large and widely distributed family of solitary (non-social) parasitic wasps. All cuckoo wasps are brood parasites, mostly exploiting bee or wasp larvae. More than 1,000 species of the genus Chrysis alone have been described.

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Physical description

Most cuckoo wasps are small, seldom exceeding 1.2 cm (about 0.5 inch) in length. As insects, they have a body formed of a head, thorax, and abdomen, and six legs. Like most wasps, they typically have a long, slender, curved abdomen with a fairly narrow waist. The color is usually metallic green or blue. The flexible abdomen allows the insect to curl into a ball when disturbed or attacked.

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Natural history and parasitism

The cuckoo wasps are so called because some species lay eggs in the nests of other solitary wasps and bees in a manner analogous to some cuckoos (bird order Cuculiformes), which lay eggs in the nests of other birds. The cuckoo wasp female places her egg in the unfinished and untended nest of another wasp or bee. The nest is later sealed by the owner after she has placed her own egg there along with food for her future larva. The cuckoo wasp larva either eats the other larva or starves it to death by devouring all the food.

While most cuckoo wasps parasitize parasitoid wasps or related bees, some have evolved to prey on unrelated insects. For example, species of the genus Cleptes are parasitic on sawfly larvae; those of Mesitiopterus are parasitic on the eggs of the walking stick.