Explanation of Names
Scientific name is from Greek, chryso, meaning "gold", referring to the metallic golden coloration of some species. The name "cuckoo wasp" is attributed to the fact that this insect, like the cuckoo bird, lays her eggs in the nest of an unsuspecting host.
Numbers
227 spp in US and Canada
(1). The greatest species diversity occurs in the western half of North America - 166 spp are found in California alone and 10% of all chrysidids are endemic to California.
(2)Identification
Characteristics of Chrysididae
(1) (3):
Body metallic blue or green, usually with coarse sculpturing (many pits in surface)
Antennae with 12 segments (females) or 13 segments (males), two to six (usually three) of them visible and concave or hollowed out beneaath
Rear corners of thorax pointed
Tip of abdomen in many species has tooth-like projections
Hindwings with no closed cells
Abdomen concave beneath, allowing chrysidids to curl up into a ball when disturbed (see below)
Range
Throughout North America. Worldwide, chrysidids are distributed in all the zoogeographic Regions, except for the Antarctica.
Habitat
Most species are external parasites of wasp and bee larvae; one subfamily (Cleptinae, one genus,
Cleptes) attacks
sawfly larvae, another subfamily (Amiseginae) the eggs of
walkingsticks.
Food
Some species are parasitoids and others cleptoparasites. Either way the host larva dies.
Life Cycle
Parasitoids feed on the larva of the host and cleptoparasites "steal" the host's food. The food-stealing behavior of cleptoparasite species resembles that of the cuckoo bird and gave rise to the cuckoo wasp's name. Hosts of parasitoid species include bees, sphecid wasps, potter wasps, sawflies, silk moths, and the eggs of stick insects. Cleptoparasitic species feed on provisions of sphecid wasp nests, which may include dead spiders, true bugs, aphids, or thrips.
Remarks
According to Kimsey
(2): "The female sting has been modified into an egg-laying tube with highly reduced valvulae and poison gland. As a result, unlike most other aculeates, chrysidids cannot sting, and they can be easily handled whether male or female".
See Also
Some metallic-green
sweat bees (Halictidae) superficially resemble cuckoo wasps (Chrysididae), but halictids lack the sculptured cuticle and the ability to curl up in a protective ball.
Print References
Arnett, family #50 of the hymenoptera, pp. 576-577
(1)
