Emerald Cockroach Wasp

• GeneralIt injects venom into a cockroach's brain and walks it alive, like a zombie, to its nest.
• parasitismoIt injects venom straight into a cockroach's brain to switch off its escape reflex, then leads it as though on a lead to its nest, where the larva will feed on it alive for days.
• The first sting, to the thorax, temporarily paralyses the front legs; the second goes straight to two specific ganglia in the cockroach's brain and removes its will to flee, without immobilising it.
• It lays an egg on the living cockroach, seals the chamber, and the larva feeds on it for days, eating the non-vital organs first so as to keep it fresh for as long as possible.
• It stings twice: first in the thorax, which paralyses the front legs for a few minutes, and then directly into the cockroach's brain, guided by sensors in the sting.
• The dopamine in the venom brings on half an hour of compulsive grooming, and then one to three weeks of hypokinesia: the cockroach is not paralysed but apathetic, and lets itself be led by a tug on one antenna all the way to the burrow.
• The wasp lays an egg on the middle leg of the living cockroach; the larva feeds first from outside, then burrows in and devours the internal organs, and spins its cocoon inside the hollow corpse.
• The larvae disinfect their host by secreting a mixture of antimicrobials.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Warm tropical areas with cockroaches

Gestation / incubation

The egg hatches after three days and the adult emerges from the cocoon one to two months later

Litter / clutch size

A single egg per parasitised cockroach

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Ampulex compressa · Fichas de especie de Ampulex compressa

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.