Sometimes the small things that surround us can be fascinating.
Cuckoo wasps are those remarkable iridescent blue-green jewels you see hovering slowly around your house looking for wasp nests.
Although about the size of a fly, these wasps live a bold and vibrant lifestyle. You see, cuckoo wasps are ‘parastoids’. That is, they are more than just parasites.
They do not just take something from their host and then leave, cuckoo wasps actually kill their host and steal their food.
Like the bird cuckoo, cuckoo wasps infiltrate the nests of other wasps – in our region mud wasps – and lay an egg. The egg hatches and the larva will eat the mud wasp larvae and all the spiders that have been paralysed in the mud wasp nest.
Read More: http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/5225686/whats-that-flying-jewel-in-your-garden/