Cuckoo wasp

Sand wasp ( Hedychrum nobile )

  • Cleptinae
  • Elampinae
  • Chrysidinae

The cuckoo wasps ( Chrysididae ) together with the Platt wasps ( Bethylidae ), cicada wasps ( Dryinidae ) and the families Sclerogibbidae, Embolemidae, Plumariidae and Scolebythidae the superfamily Chrysidoidea within the Stechimmen ( Aculeata ). Around the world knows about 4000 species in Central Europe, the cuckoo wasps are represented by about 120 species.

With her ​​striking vivid metallic shiny ( iridescent ) staining, the gold wasps are among the most conspicuous representatives of Hymenoptera, even if the native species barely reach ten millimeters in height, many species are even smaller than five millimeters.

All cuckoo wasps have a parasitic way of life, albeit in varying degrees: There are brood parasites, like the cuckoo bees, in which the larva kills the host larva and then fed from the feed storage, and parasitoids that attack the Altlarven or pupae of the host species. As host species numerous Stechimmen come from the groups of solitary wasps, bees or wasps grave in question.

Types (selection)

  • Copper-gold wasp ( Chrysura cuprea )
  • Blue Green Red Gold wasp ( Chrysis fulgida )
  • Common wasp or fire - gold wasp ( Chrysis ignita )
  • Chrysis inaequalis ( Dahlbom, 1845)
  • Snail - gold wasp ( Chrysis trimaculata )
  • Colorful gold wasp ( Chrysis viridula )
  • Cleptes nitidulus (Fabricius, 1793)
  • Hedychrum ardens ( Coquebert, 1801)
  • Sand wasp ( Hedychrum nobile )
  • Pink gold wasp ( Hedychridium roseum )
  • Blue gold wasp ( Trichrysis cyanea )
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