Emerald cockroach wasp | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Ampulicidae |
Genus: | Ampulex |
Species: | A. compressa |
Binomial name | |
Ampulex compressa (Fabricius, 1781) | |
Synonyms | |
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The emerald cockroach wasp or jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa) is a solitary wasp of the family Ampulicidae. It is known for its unusual reproductive behavior, which involves stinging a cockroach and using it as a host for its larvae. It thus belongs to the entomophagous parasites.
The wasp is mostly found in the tropical regions of Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands. [1] The flying wasps are more abundant in the warm seasons of the year.
A. compressa was introduced to Hawaii by F.X. Williams in 1941 as a method of biocontrol. This has been unsuccessful because of the territorial tendencies of the wasp and the small scale on which they hunt. [2]
The species is also found in the Brazilian states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. [3] [4] A. compressa likely arrived in the country through the ports of Santos and Rio de Janeiro. [5]
The wasp has a metallic blue-green body, with the thighs of the second and third pair of legs red. The female is about 22 mm long; the male is smaller and lacks a stinger. [2] Males can be less than half of a female in size if emerging from a smaller or a superparasitized host. [3] The species undergoes four larval stages, where the initial younger larvae can be seen as external hemolymph-feeders on the paralysed roach's leg, and the last instar feeds internally. [6] Upon pupation it produces a chocolate-coloured, thick, spindle-shaped cocoon which can be found inside the dead cockroach within the burrow. [4]
Female wasps of this species were reported to sting a cockroach (specifically a Periplaneta americana , Periplaneta australasiae , or Nauphoeta rhombifolia ) [2] twice, delivering venom. Researchers, using radioactive labeling, demonstrated that the wasp stings precisely into specific ganglia of the roach. [7] It delivers an initial sting to a thoracic ganglion and injects venom to mildly and reversibly paralyze the front legs of its victim. A biochemically-induced transient paralysis takes over the cockroach, [8] where the temporary loss of mobility facilitates the second venomous sting at a precise spot in the victim's head ganglia (brain), in the section that controls the escape reflex. As a result of this sting, the roach will first groom extensively, and then become sluggish and fail to show normal escape responses. [9] The venom is reported to block receptors for the neurotransmitter octopamine. [10]
Once the host is incapacitated, the wasp proceeds to chew off half of each of the roach's antennae, after which it carefully feeds from exuding hemolymph. [2] [3] The wasp, which is too small to carry the roach, then leads the victim to the wasp's burrow, by pulling one of the roach's antennae in a manner similar to a leash. In the burrow, the wasp will lay one or two white eggs, about 2 mm long, between the roach's legs. [3] It then exits and proceeds to fill in the burrow entrance with any surrounding debris, more to keep other predators and competitors out than to keep the roach in.
With its escape reflex disabled, the stung roach simply rests in the burrow as the wasp's egg hatches after about 3 days. The hatched larva lives and feeds for 4–5 days on the roach, then chews its way into its abdomen and proceeds to live as an endoparasitoid. [4] Over a period of 8 days, the final-instar larva will consume the roach's internal organs, finally killing its host, and enters the pupal stage inside a cocoon in the roach's body. [4] Eventually, the fully grown wasp emerges from the roach's body to begin its adult life. Development is faster in the warm season.
Adults live for several months. Mating takes about a minute, and only one mating is necessary for a female wasp to successfully parasitize several dozen roaches.
While a number of venomous animals paralyze prey as live food for their young, A. compressa is different in that it initially leaves the roach mobile and modifies its behavior in a unique way. Several other species of the genus Ampulex show a similar behavior of preying on cockroaches. [2] The wasp's predation appears only to affect the cockroach's escape responses. While a stung roach exhibits drastically reduced survival instincts (such as swimming or avoiding pain) for about 72 hours, motor abilities such as flight or flipping over are unimpaired. [11] [12]
The first sting is delivered to the prothoracic ganglion (mass of nerve tissue) which causes a 2- to 3-minute paralysis of the front legs. This sting injects significant quantities of γ amino-butyric acid (GABA) and complementary agonists taurine and β alanine. The concoction temporarily blocks the motor action potentials in the prothoracic ganglion by depressing cholinergic transmission through the increased chloride conductance across nerve synapses. Individually, all of these substances induce short-term paralysis of the cockroach. When they are injected together in a ratio of 10:7:4, the effect is longer lasting. GABA activates ligand-gated chloride channels by binding to GABA receptors. Taurine and beta-alanine likely extend the duration of the paralytic effect by slowing the uptake of GABA by the synaptic cleft. Combined, this cocktail of compounds prevents the cockroach from moving and defending itself while the wasp administers the second sting/series of stings.[ citation needed ]
The second sting is administered to the subesophageal ganglion (SEG) and is much more precise, hence the need for paralysis. It is also significantly longer. The wasp actively searches for the SEG during this sting. The second sting inhibits the cockroach's ability to walk spontaneously or of its own will, but cockroaches can right themselves and swim while under the influence, and when startled, will jump but not run. It also causes excessive grooming and alterations in the metabolism of the cockroach. The metabolic change is thought to preserve nutrients for the wasp larva. Researchers have simulated this zombie state by injecting procaine into the SEG. They also determined using extracellular bipolar electrodes that neuronal activity was less in stung cockroaches. The venom may disturb the octopaminergic modulation in structures within the roach's ganglion. Basically, it limits the effectiveness of octopamine, the neurotransmitter that controls muscle contraction in sudden movements. [13]
Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary, and most capture and paralyze prey, though members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are kleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders.
A stinger is a sharp organ found in various animals capable of injecting venom, usually by piercing the epidermis of another animal.
Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga is a Costa Rican parasitoid wasp whose host is the spider Plesiometa argyra. The wasp is unusual in modifying the spider's web building behavior to make a web made of very strong lines designed to support the wasp's cocoon without breaking in the rain.
Octopamine (molecular formula C8H11NO2; also known as OA, and also norsynephrine, para-octopamine and others) is an organic chemical closely related to norepinephrine, and synthesized biologically by a homologous pathway. Octopamine is often considered the major "fight-or-flight" neurohormone of invertebrates. Its name is derived from the fact that it was first identified in the salivary glands of the octopus.
Cockroaches are insects belonging to the order Blattodea (Blattaria). About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known pests.
A bee sting is the wound and pain caused by the stinger of a female bee puncturing skin. Bee stings differ from insect bites, with the venom of stinging insects having considerable chemical variation. The reaction of a person to a bee sting may vary according to the bee species. While bee stinger venom is slightly acidic and causes only mild pain in most people, allergic reactions may occur in people with allergies to venom components.
Ampulicidae, or cockroach wasps, are a small, primarily tropical family of sphecoid wasps, all of which use various cockroaches as prey for their larvae. They are the most primitive family of sphecoid hunting wasps. They tend to have elongated jaws, pronounced neck-like constrictions behind the head, strongly petiolate abdomens, and deep grooves on the thorax. Many are quite ant-like in appearance, though some are brilliant metallic blue, green, and hot pink.
Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causing the death of these hosts. Different species specialise in hosts from different insect orders, most often Lepidoptera, though some select beetles, flies, or bugs; the spider wasps (Pompilidae) exclusively attack spiders.
Evaniidae is a family of parasitoid wasps also known as ensign wasps, nightshade wasps, hatchet wasps, or cockroach egg parasitoid wasps. They number around 20 extant genera containing over 400 described species, and are found all over the world except in the polar regions. The larvae of these solitary wasps are parasitoids that feed on cockroaches and develop inside the egg-cases, or oothecae, of their hosts.
Spider behavior refers to the range of behaviors and activities performed by spiders. Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms which is reflected in their large diversity of behavior.
Nasonia are a genus of small pteromalid parasitoid wasps that sting and lay eggs in the pupae of various flies. The fly species that Nasonia usually parasitize are primarily blow flies and flesh flies, making Nasonia a useful tool for biocontrol of these pest flies. The small match-head sized wasps are also referred to as jewel wasps based on the emerald sheen of their exoskeleton.
Pompilidotoxins (PMTXs) are toxic substances that can only be found in the venom of several solitary wasps. This kind of wasp uses their venom to offensively capture prey and is relatively harmless to humans. This is in stark contrast to social insects that defend themselves and their colonies with their venom.
Ampulex is a large cosmopolitan genus of wasps belonging to the family Ampulicidae. Most of the >130 species occur in the tropics, particularly in the Old World, and fewer than 15 are known from the New World; fewer than 5 species are native to Europe or the United States, though the Old World species Ampulex compressa has spread to virtually everywhere that its host roaches can be found. The few species whose biology is known are parasitoids of cockroaches; they typically inject venom into the roach that subdues or immobilizes it, and then lay one to two eggs between the legs of the defenseless roach.
Ammophila sabulosa, the red-banded sand wasp, is a species of the subfamily Ammophilinae of the solitary hunting wasp family Sphecidae, also called digger wasps. Found across Eurasia, the parasitoid wasp is notable for the mass provisioning behaviour of the females, hunting caterpillars mainly on sunny days, paralysing them with a sting, and burying them in a burrow with a single egg. The species is also remarkable for the extent to which females parasitise their own species, either stealing prey from nests of other females to provision their own nests, or in brood parasitism, removing the other female's egg and laying one of her own instead.
Cryptocheilus australis, the golden spider wasp, is an Australian pepsid spider wasp that was accidentally introduced to New Zealand around 1960.
Behavior-altering parasites are parasites with two or more hosts, capable of causing changes in the behavior of one of their hosts to enhance their transmission, sometimes directly affecting the hosts' decision-making and behavior control mechanisms. They do this by making the intermediate host, where they may reproduce asexually, more likely to be eaten by a predator at a higher trophic level which becomes the definitive host where the parasite reproduces sexually; the mechanism is therefore sometimes called parasite increased trophic facilitation or parasite increased trophic transmission. Examples can be found in bacteria, protozoa, viruses, and animals. Parasites may also alter the host behavior to increase protection of the parasites or their offspring; the term bodyguard manipulation is used for such mechanisms.
Evania appendigaster, also known as the blue-eyed ensign wasp, is a species of wasp in the family Evaniidae. Its native range is not known, but it likely originated in Asia. Today it occurs throughout the tropics and subtropics and in many temperate regions. As with the rest of its family, the blue-eyed ensign wasp is a parasitoid known for specializing on cockroach eggs.
The Turkestan cockroach, Periplaneta lateralis, also known as the rusty red cockroach, red runner cockroach or simply rusty red, red runner, or lat, is a primarily outdoor-dwelling cockroach native to an area from northern Africa to Central Asia. Adults measure around 3 cm (1.2 in) in length. Adult males are a brownish orange or red, are slender, and have long, yellowish wings which allow it to attract females and to glide. Adult females are dark brown to black, with cream-colored markings on the shield and a cream-colored stripe edging its wings; they are broader than males, and have short vestigial wings. Nymphs are brown in front, black on the rear, and are wingless.
Ampulex dementor, commonly known as the dementor wasp, is a species of cockroach wasp native to Thailand, described in 2014 by Michael Ohl of the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany. The species name was selected by visitors to the museum in an effort to raise awareness among the public of issues in taxonomy and the description of biodiversity.
Pepsis grossa is a very large species of pepsine spider wasp from the southern part of North America, south to northern South America. It preys on tarantula spiders, giving rise to the name tarantula hawk for the wasps in the genus Pepsis and the related Hemipepsis. Only the females hunt, so only they are capable of delivering a sting, which is considered the second most painful of any insect sting; scoring 4.0 on the Schmidt sting pain index compared to the bullet ant's 4.0+. It is the state insect of New Mexico. The colour morphs are the xanthic orange-winged form and the melanic black winged form. In northern South America, a third form, known as "lygamorphic", has a dark base to the wings which have dark amber median patches and a pale tip.