Ampulex

Ampulex
Ampulex compressa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Superfamily:	Apoidea
Family:	Ampulicidae
Genus:	Ampulex Jurine, 1807
Species
>130 species

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 (esp. the genus Periplaneta) 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,^[1] and then lay an egg on the defenseless roach.

Selected Species

• Ampulex canaliculata Say, 1823^[2]
• Ampulex compressa Fabricius, 1781 – jewel wasp or emerald cockroach wasp
• Ampulex dementor Ohl, 2014
• Ampulex fasciata Jurine, 1807
• Ampulex ferruginea Bradley, 1934
• Ampulex ruficollis Cameron, 1889

For further species see ITIS.^[3]

References

1. Gal, Ram; Rosenberg, Lior Ann; Libersat, Frederic (22 November 2005). "Parasitoid wasp uses a venom cocktail injected into the brain to manipulate the behavior and metabolism of its cockroach prey". Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology 60 (4): 198–208. doi:10.1002/arch.20092. PMID 16304619.
2. Image of A. canaliculata
3. "Ampulex". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.