Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing the cuckoo wasp. These insects have many common names due to their bright, colorful, metallic appearance. They’re also known as the jewel wasp, gold wasp, ruby wasp, and emerald wasp. They look a bit like sweat bees but are described as bulkier.

The cuckoo wasp is rarely longer than a centimeter in length, which is about half the width of your thumb on average. These insects have a thick, heavy exoskeleton that helps protect them from the sting of another wasp. They need to be protected from other wasp stings because they may be targeted for their egg laying behavior.

Like the cuckoo bird, the cuckoo wasp gets its common name because it is a cleptoparasite and lays its eggs in the nests of other insects. Here, their young take over and destroy the original nesting inhabitants. They don’t all do this, however. Other members of the family act as parasitoids in which their larvae grow on or in the eggs or larvae of other insects and eventually kill the host - we’ve discussed other parasitoid wasps previously. Typically, the cuckoo wasp family goes after other wasps but they also infest bees, moths, and stick insects - all of which we’ve also discussed in previous episodes!

The cuckoo wasp begins life as an egg. After two to four days, the egg hatches and the larva seeks out the food provided to the nest's original inhabitant. Like the cicada killers we’ve talked about before, a solitary wasp nest includes the eggs as well as a source of food for those eggs when they hatch. The cuckoo wasp doesn’t provide food to their young and instead lays their eggs in the nests that have already been provided food so the cuckoo wasp larvae can “steal” that food instead! This makes them a cleptoparasite. Sometimes, the larvae will eat the animal in the nest itself. When this happens, the cuckoo wasp is known as a parasitoid. Either way, if a nest is visited by a cuckoo wasp, the young inside don’t survive.

The larva may eat for up to 30 days at which point it pupates for about half a month and then the adult wasp emerges. An adult cuckoo wasp consumes honeydew produced by aphids as well as nectar and acts as a pollinator - just like bees! Unlike bees, cuckoo wasps are reported as unable to sting - though I haven’t personally tested this theory and I don’t plan on doing so. Without a stinger for defense, the cuckoo wasp depends on its hard body for protection. In fact, they can curl up into a ball, much like a roly poly, to avoid the stings of an angry mother wasp! An adult cuckoo wasp may live for months.

The cuckoo wasp family ranges across all inhabited continents. There are currently around 3,000 described species but likely many more out there. Though they can be found in all kinds of environments like forests, grasslands, and coasts, they’re most diverse in temperate desert regions.

For more facts on the cuckoo wasp, check out the links below. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today. Thank you to our Patron Valerie Russel for today’s request. Our Patrons, like SpikeSpiegel93 and my dad, get priority for requests. Thanks for your support! And thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!