Emerald cockroach wasp: Difference between revisions

The species is also found in the [[Brazil]]ian states of [[São Paulo (state)|São Paulo]] and [[Rio de Janeiro (state)|Rio de Janeiro]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Eizemberg|first=Roberto|last2=Bressan-Nascimento|first2=Suzete|last3=Fox|first3=Eduardo Gonçalves Paterson|date=September 2009|title=Notes on the Biology and Behaviour of the Jewel Wasp, Ampulex compressa (Fabricius, 1781) (Hymenoptera; Ampulicidae), in the Laboratory, Including First Record of Gregarious Reproduction|url=https://bioone.org/journals/Entomological-News/volume-120/issue-4/021.120.0412/Notes-on-the-Biology-and-Behaviour-of-the-Jewel-Wasp/10.3157/021.120.0412.full|journal=Entomological News|volume=120|issue=4|pages=430–437|doi=10.3157/021.120.0412|issn=0013-872X}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Bressan-Nascimento|first=Suzete|last2=Mallet|first2=Jace-Nir Reis Dos Santos|last3=Buys|first3=Sandor Cristiano|last4=Fox|first4=Eduardo Gonçalves Paterson|date=2006-08-03|title=On the morphology of the juvenile stages of Ampulex compressa (Fabricius 1781) (Hymenoptera, Ampulicidae)|url=https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.1279.1.2|journal=Zootaxa|language=en|volume=1279|issue=1|pages=43–51|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1279.1.2|issn=1175-5334}}</ref>. ''A. compressa'' likely arrived in the country through the ports of [[Santos, São Paulo|Santos]] and [[Rio de Janeiro]].<ref name=Insetologia>{{cite web |url=http://www.insetologia.com.br/2012/09/vespa-joia-ampulex-compressa.html |title=Vespa Joia |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=8 October 2012 |website=Insetologia |access-date=7 December 2017}}</ref>

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&nbsp;mm long; the male is smaller and lacks a [[stinger]].<ref name=williams>{{cite journal | last1 = Williams | first1 = F. X. | year = 1942 | title = ''Ampulex compressa'' (Fabr.), a cockroach-hunting wasp introduced from New Caledonia into Hawaii | url = | journal = Proc. Hawaiian Entomological Society | volume = 11 | issue = | pages = 221–233 }}</ref> Males can be less than half of a female in size if emerging from a smaller or a superparasitized host<ref name=":0" />. 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bressan-Nascimento|first=Suzete|last2=Mallet|first2=Jace-Nir Reis Dos Santos|last3=Buys|first3=Sandor Cristiano|last4=Fox|first4=Eduardo Gonçalves Paterson|date=2006-08-03|title=On the morphology of the juvenile stages of Ampulex compressa (Fabricius 1781) (Hymenoptera, Ampulicidae)|url=https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.1279.1.2|journal=Zootaxa|language=en|volume=1279|issue=1|pages=43–51|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1279.1.2|issn=1175-5334}}</ref> Upon pupation it produces a chocolate-coloured, thick, spindle-shaped cocoon which can be found inside the dead cockroach within the burrow.<ref name=":1" />

As early as the 1940s, femaleFemale wasps of this species were reported to sting a cockroach (specifically a ''[[Periplaneta americana]]'', ''[[Periplaneta australasiae]]'', or ''[[Nauphoeta rhombifolia]]'')<ref name=williams/> twice, delivering venom. A 2003 studyResearchers<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Haspel | first1 = Gal | last2 = Ann Rosenberg | first2 = Lior | last3 = Libersat | first3 = Frederic | year = 2003 | title = Direct Injection of Venom by a Predatory Wasp into Cockroach Brain | url = http://www.bgu.ac.il/life/Faculty/Libersat/pdf/JNB.2003b.pdf | journal = [[Journal of Neurobiology]] | volume = 56 | issue = 4| pages = 287–292 | doi = 10.1002/neu.10238 | pmid = 12884267 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.585.5675 }}</ref> using [[radioactive tracer|radioactive labeling]] demonstrated that the wasp stings precisely into specific [[ganglion|ganglia]] of the roach. It delivers an initial sting to a [[Thorax (insect anatomy)|thoracic]] ganglion and injects venom to mildly and reversibly [[paralysis|paralyze]] the front legs of its victim. TheA biochemical basis of thisbiochemically-induced transient paralysis istakes discussedover inthe a 2006 paper.cockroach,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Moore|first=Eugene L.|author2=Haspel, Gal |author3=Libersat, Frederic |author4= Adams, Michael E. |date=July 2006|title=Parasitoid wasp sting: A cocktail of GABA, taurine, and β-alanine opens chloride channels for central synaptic block and transient paralysis of a cockroach host|journal=Journal of Neurobiology|volume=66|issue=8|pages=811–820|doi=10.1002/neu.20262|pmid=16673386}}</ref> Temporarywhere the temporary loss of mobility in the roach 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.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gal|first=Ram|author2=Rosenberg, Lior Ann |author3=Libersat, Frederic |date=22 November 2005|title=Parasitoid wasp uses a venom cocktail injected into the brain to manipulate the behavior and metabolism of its cockroach prey|journal=Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology|volume=60|issue=4|pages=198–208|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/112152224/abstract|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630121423/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/112152224/abstract|dead-url=yes|archive-date=30 June 2012|doi=10.1002/arch.20092|pmid=16304619}}</ref> In 2007, theThe venom of the wasp wasis reported to block receptors for the [[neurotransmitter]] [[octopamine (neurotransmitter)|octopamine]].<ref>[http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071129/full/news.2007.312.html How to make a zombie cockroach], ''Nature News'', 29 September 2007</ref>

TheOnce the host is vanquished, the wasp proceeds to chew off half of each of the roach's [[antenna (biology)|antenna]]e, after which it carefully feeds from exuding [[hemolymph]].<ref name=williams/><ref Researchersname=":0" believe that the wasp chews off the antenna to replenish fluids or possibly to regulate the amount of venom because too much could kill and too little would let the victim recover before the larva has grown./> 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 layswill alay one or two white eggeggs, about 2&nbsp;mm long, onbetween the roach's [[abdomen]]legs<ref name=":0" />. It then exits and proceeds to fill in the burrow entrance with pebblesany surrounding debris, more to keep other [[predator]]s 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]]<ref name=":1" />. Over a period of 8 days, the waspfinal-instar larva consumeswill consume the roach's internal [[organ (anatomy)|organs]], infinally ankilling orderits which maximizes the likelihood that the roach will stay alivehost, at least until the larvaand enters the [[pupa]]l stage and formsinside a [[Pupa#Cocoon|cocoon]] insidein the roach's body.<ref name=":1" /> Eventually, the fully grown wasp emerges from the roach's body to begin its adult life. Development is faster in the warm season.