Cuckoo wasps or emerald wasps - Chrysis sp. - Cyprus

Family Chrysididae 

Commonly known as cuckoo wasps or emerald wasps, the hymenopteran family Chrysididae is a very large cosmopolitan group (over 3000 described species) of parasitoid or kleptoparasitic wasps, often highly sculptured, with brilliant metallic colors created by structural coloration. They are most diverse in desert regions of the world, as they are typically associated with solitary bee and wasp species, which are also most diverse in such areas.

The term "cuckoo wasp" refers to the cuckoo-like way in which wasps in the family lay eggs in the nests of unrelated host species.

Chrysididae, the scientific name of the family, refers to their shiny bodies and is derived from Greek chrysis, chrysid-, "gold vessel, gold-embroidered dress", plus the familial suffix -idae. The common names of many species pay similar tribute to their appearance: jewel wasp, gold wasp,emerald wasp, ruby wasp and so on (cf. French guêpe de feu, fire-wasp, and German Goldwespe, gold-wasp).

Members of the largest subfamily, Chrysidinae, are the most familiar; they are generally kleptoparasites, laying their eggs in host nests, where their larvae consume the host egg or larva while it is still young, then the food provided by the host for its own juvenile. Chrysidines are distinguished from the members of other subfamilies in that most have flattened or concave lower abdomens and can curl into a defensive ball when attacked by a potential host, in the manner of a pill bug. Members of the other subfamilies are parasitoids, of either sawflies or walking sticks, and cannot fold up into a ball.

Chrysidids are always solitary, and are closely associated with other solitary wasps. They fly mainly in the hottest and driest months of summer, preferring subtropical and Mediterranean climates. They favour dry areas and sandy soils; each species is confined to a narrow type of microhabitat where adults may rest or find hosts to parasitise, for example on bare soil or on dead wood where other solitary wasps have their nest holes. Some species visit flowers such as of the Umbelliferae, Compositae and Euphorbiae. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Agios Sozomenos, by George Konstantinou

Cuckoo wasps or emerald wasps - Chrysis sp. - Cyprus

Family Chrysididae

Commonly known as cuckoo wasps or emerald wasps, the hymenopteran family Chrysididae is a very large cosmopolitan group (over 3000 described species) of parasitoid or kleptoparasitic wasps, often highly sculptured, with brilliant metallic colors created by structural coloration. They are most diverse in desert regions of the world, as they are typically associated with solitary bee and wasp species, which are also most diverse in such areas.

The term "cuckoo wasp" refers to the cuckoo-like way in which wasps in the family lay eggs in the nests of unrelated host species.

Chrysididae, the scientific name of the family, refers to their shiny bodies and is derived from Greek chrysis, chrysid-, "gold vessel, gold-embroidered dress", plus the familial suffix -idae. The common names of many species pay similar tribute to their appearance: jewel wasp, gold wasp,emerald wasp, ruby wasp and so on (cf. French guêpe de feu, fire-wasp, and German Goldwespe, gold-wasp).

Members of the largest subfamily, Chrysidinae, are the most familiar; they are generally kleptoparasites, laying their eggs in host nests, where their larvae consume the host egg or larva while it is still young, then the food provided by the host for its own juvenile. Chrysidines are distinguished from the members of other subfamilies in that most have flattened or concave lower abdomens and can curl into a defensive ball when attacked by a potential host, in the manner of a pill bug. Members of the other subfamilies are parasitoids, of either sawflies or walking sticks, and cannot fold up into a ball.

Chrysidids are always solitary, and are closely associated with other solitary wasps. They fly mainly in the hottest and driest months of summer, preferring subtropical and Mediterranean climates. They favour dry areas and sandy soils; each species is confined to a narrow type of microhabitat where adults may rest or find hosts to parasitise, for example on bare soil or on dead wood where other solitary wasps have their nest holes. Some species visit flowers such as of the Umbelliferae, Compositae and Euphorbiae. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Agios Sozomenos, by George Konstantinou

The white butterfly parasite - Αpanteles glomeratus - Cyprus

Αpanteles glomeratus, the white butterfly parasite, is a small parasitic wasp species belonging to family Braconidae.
The adults can reach a length of 3–7 millimetres (0.12–0.28 in). This small braconid wasp is black, with two pairs of wings. It can parasitize a wide range of Pieris butterfly species as host, but Pieris brassicae and Pieris rapae are the main hosts. The adults feed on nectar
After hatching from the pupae, females mate almost immediately and begin laying eggs. The eggs are laid in the larvae of caterpillars, where the C. glomerata larvae develop; multiple eggs numbering between 16-52 are deposited in each caterpillar. After 15 to 20 days the larvae emerge, killing the parasitised caterpillar. These newly emerged larvae spin cocoons in a cluster on or nearby the host caterpillar; after 7 to 10 days the imago adult wasps hatch from these cocoons. Overall it takes between 22 and 30 days for an egg to develop to full adulthood
This species is present in most of Europe, in the Afrotropic ecozone, the Australasian ecozone, the Nearctic ecozone and the Neotropical ecozone.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



 Tα κουκούλια είναι (νύμφες)του υμενόπτερου Αpanteles glomeratus (μικρές σφήκες) που παρασιτεί στις κάμπιες. τα σκουλήκια του υμενόπτερου αφού παρασίτησαν στο εσωτερικό της κάμπιας βγήκαν έξω και σχημάτισαν κουκκούλια. Η κάμπια είναι τελειωμένη. Γίνονται ώριμα έντομα περιπου σε 10 μερες. Το μικρό αυτό υμενόπτερο γεννά μεγάλο αριθμό αυγών στο σώμα της κάμπιας. Μεγάλος αριθμός από κάμπιες της πεταλούδας Pieris brassicae όπως αυτή στην εικόνα αλλά και κάμπιες άλλων πεταλλούδων πέφτουν θύματα αυτού του υμενόπτερου. Μέσα από τα κουκκούλια θα βγούν υμενόπτερα (μικρές σφήκες) που θα γεννήσουν και πάλι τα αυγά τους σε άλλες κάμπιες. 
Photos Orkonta, 3/5/2014  by George Konstantinou

Parasite on  Large white, Cabbage butterfly - Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus, 1758) - Cyprus

Mammoth wasp (Megascolia maculata ssp. bischoff) (Fabricius, 1775) - Endemic subspecies of Cyprus.

Mammoth wasp is the largest wasp  in Europe 
Endemic subspecies of Cyprus.


Is a very large wasp (the largest in Europe), with the female reaching up to 6 centimetres (2.4 in), whereas the male is smaller. The species can be seen in warm weather, from May to September.
This species feeds on flower nectar.
The female is larger than the male. The female's head is yellow or orange, whereas the male's head is black or dark coloured.
Mammoth wasps are parasitic of the European rhinoceros beetle larva, since the female mammoth wasp stings the larva to paralyze it, and then lays one egg in its outer skin. The egg will then hatch and the mammoth wasp larva will feed on its host, until it is able to build acocoon and develop into an adult mammoth wasp. It will stay in the cocoon over winter, and will emerge only in spring.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Nicosia, Geri by George Konstantinou

Oriental hornet, (Vespa orientalis) (Linnaeus, 1771) Σφήκα - Cyprus

The Oriental hornet, Vespa orientalis, is a social insect of the Vespidae family. It can be found in Southwest Asia, Northeast Africa, the island of Madagascar, and parts of Southern Europe. Oriental hornets have also been found in a few isolated locations such as Mexico due to human introduction. The Oriental hornet lives in seasonal colonies consisting of caste system dominated by a queen.The hornet builds its nests underground and communicates using sound vibrations. The hornet has a yellow stripe on its cuticle (exoskeleton) which can absorb sunlight to generate a small electrical potential, and it has been suggested that this might help supply energy for digging. The adult hornet eats nectar and fruits and scavenges for insects and animal proteins to feed to their young.Because they are scavengers, the hornets may also serve as a transmitter of disease following consumption infected plants. The hornets are a primary pest to honey bees, attacking bee colonies to obtain honey and animal proteins. The sting of an Oriental hornet can be quite painful to humans and some humans are allergic to stings
The Oriental hornet typically lives in nests that it digs underground. A nests contains multiple combs in which the colony lives. While nests are most commonly found underground, some paper nests are constructed in protective hollows such as inside hollow trees, in shipping containers, parked vehicles, and aircraft. To construct the paper nests, the workers strip the bark from twigs, tree branches, and shrubs in order to collect fiber
Oriental hornets live in seasonal colonies which are formed ever year in the spring by a single queen who mated during the previous fall.During the fall, the queen lays her eggs which will develop into new queens and drones. After mating, the drones die off while the fertilized queens seek hideouts in which to hibernate for the winter. The colony will grow throughout the spring and summer months until the population and activity of the colony peaks in the late summer and early fall. The peak size of the colony is several thousand individuals and a colony will contain on average 3-6 combs each containing 600-900 individual cells
Vespa orientalis is a type of social wasp. Individuals live collectively in colonies with one queen and thousands of workers. Social wasps are unusual in their practice of altruism in which non-reproductive individuals work for the benefit of the colony. This occurs because all individuals in a colony are closely related. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Nicosia,Agios Sozomenos by George Konstantinou

European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) (Christ, 1791) Μυρμιδόνες - Cyprus

The European paper wasp (Polistes dominula, often misspelled as dominulus) is one of the more common and well-known species of social wasps in the genus Polistes. Its diet is more versatile than that of most Polistes species (many genera of insects versus mainly caterpillars in other Polistes), making it superior over many others during the shortage of resources. The dominant females (queens) are the principal egg layers, while the subordinate females ("auxiliaries") primarily forage and do not lay eggs. This hierarchy is not permanent, however; when the queen (alpha-female) is removed from the nest, the second-most dominant female (beta-female) displaces the role of the previous queen. Dominance in females is determined by the severity of the scattered-ness in the coloration of the clypeus (face), whereas dominance in males is shown by the variation of spots of their abdomens. Polistes dominula is far from being extinct or even being in danger due to their exceptional survival features such as productive colony cycle, short development time, higher ability to endure predator attacks and many more.

Polistes dominula wasps have a lek-based mating system. Unlike most social insects, 35% of Polistes dominula wasps in a colony are unrelated. It is considered an invasive species in Canada and the United States.

The native range of Polistes dominula covers much of southern Europe and North Africa, and temperate parts of Asia as far east as China. It has also been introduced to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and North and South America. Since the mid-1980s, the population of P. dominula has expanded to rather cooler regions, especially towards northern Europe. It is speculated that global warminghas raised temperatures of certain areas, allowing P. dominula to expand to originally cooler regions.

The first North American occurrence of P. dominula was reported in Massachusetts in the late 1970s,^[12] and by 1995 this species had been documented throughout the northeastern USA.^[13] However, there is a large possibility that the species is also present in additional states, but has just not yet been reported. Although detailed mechanisms of the species' dispersal are still unknown, it is likely that some number of individuals, including the foundresses, may have hidden inside transportable items such as shipping crates, trailers, boats, or other human-made structures that were used during international trading between countries

Polistes dominula generally live in temperate, terrestrial habitats such as chaparral, forest and grassland biomes. They also have the propensity to colonize nearby human civilizations because human-made structures can act as great shelters and also oftentimes located close to the resources such as food. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos and video Nicosia,Agios Sozomenos by George Konstantinou

Dasylabris manderstiernii cypria (Sichel & Radoszkowski, 1870) - Cyprus

 Family: Mutillidae

Dasylabris is a genus of insects belonging to the family Mutillidae.

The species of this genus are found in Eurasia and Africa

Photos Geri,22/6/2015 by George Konstantinou

Sphecid wasp - Sceliphron spirifex ((Linnaeus, 1758) - Σφαλάντζι - Cyprus

 Family Sphecidae

Sceliphron spirifex is a species of sphecid wasp. It has a medium-sized body (17–27 millimetres or 0.7–1.1 inches), which is dull black with a long, yellow petiole (waist). The legs are black with yellow bands, the antennae are black and the wings are clear.

Females build large multi-celled mud nests attached to cliffs, rocks, tree trunks, bridges and buildings. The cells are mass-provisioned with several spiders and sealed with mud, S. spirifex lives in diverse habitats across Africa and Southern Europe, but is strongly associated with buildings and other man-made structures.

 Cyprus - Geri 17/7/2010 Photos George Konstantinou

Κείμενο, φωτογραφίες του Γιώργου Κωνσταντίνου

Το  Σφαλάντζι με το επιστημονικό όνομα Sceliphron spirifex (Linnaeus, 1758) είναι ένα είδος σφήκας της οικογένειας Sphecidae (sphecid wasp). 

Αν και έχει κεντρί δεν είναι καθόλου επικίνδυνο για τον άνθρωπο καθώς ποτέ δεν επιτίθεται σε άνθρωπο ακόμα και αν το ενοχλήσεις, η μόνη περίπτωση να σε κεντρίσει είναι όταν το πιάσεις με το χέρι. Το θηλυκό χτίζει την φωλιά του με πηλό σε σπηλιές, γκρεμούς, βράχους, κορμούς δέντρων, γέφυρες, κτίρια ακόμα και μέσα στα σπίτια.

 Η πήλινη φωλιά του αποτελείται από  αρκετά μακρόστενα κελιά (από 2 μέχρι 50). Όταν το θηλυκό τελειώσει το χτίσιμο της φωλιάς αρχίζει μια απίστευτη διαδικασία που μοιάζει πραγματικά σαν ένα σενάριο επιστημονικής φαντασίας. Αρχίζει να αναζητά παντού μικρές αράχνες (μέχρι 1 πόντο) τις οποίες κεντρίζει όχι για να τις σκοτώσει αλλά να τις αναισθητοποιήσει. Κατόπιν τις κουβαλάει στην φωλιά της τοποθετώντας περίπου δέκα αναισθητοποιημένες αράχνες σε κάθε κελί. Αμέσως μετά γεννά ένα μόνο μικρό αυγό σε κάθε κελί που το σφραγίζει με πηλό.

 Σε λίγες μέρες από το αυγό εκκολάπτεται μια μικροσκοπική άσπρη κάμπια που αμέσως αρχίζει να τρέφεται λαίμαργα με τις αναισθητοποιημένες αράχνες. Η κάμπια τρέφεται με τις αράχνες χωρίς να πειράζει τα ζωτικά τους όργανα για να μην πεθάνουν έτσι να έχει συνεχώς φρέσκια ζωντανή τροφή, τα ζωτικά όργανα τα αφήνει να τα φάει τελευταία, αυτές οι οδηγίες είναι βαθιά χαραγμένες στο DNA τις κάμπιας. Όταν η κάμπια είναι έτοιμη και αφού έχει φάει όλες τις αράχνες μετατρέπεται σε χρυσαλλίδα μέσα στο κελί όπου θα παραμείνει αρκετές μέρες ώσπου να μετατρέπει σε τέλειο έντομο και να βγει έξω από το κελί της ώστε να συνεχίσει τον δικό της θαυμαστό και απίστευτο κύκλο. 

Να αναφέρω ότι πάρα πολλά άλλα είδη σφηκών έχουν παρόμοια συμπεριφορά.

Ομαδική διανυκτέρευση πάνω σε φύλλο.

See also  Asian mud-dauber wasp - Sceliphron curvatum (F. Smith, 1870) - First reported in Cyprus 11/7/2020

Sceliphron spirifex - Larvrae  parasites

See also 

Anthrax sticticus Klug, 1832 - Δίπτερα (Diptera) (fly) - Cyprus

Cuckoo wasps or emerald wasps - Chrysis sp. - Cyprus