Ruby Tailed Wasp Species Uk

You can distinguish a wasp by its striking black and yellow stripes and slightly more elongated bodies.

Ruby tailed wasp species uk. Ruby tailed wasps have a very hard body cuticle that protects them from the stings of the host species if they are discovered in the act of laying their eggs in the host s nest. Bees wasps and ants are all part of an insect order called hymenoptera. That flash of iridescent metallic blue green you observed near your solitary bee nest box was probably a wasp. Chrysis ignita also known as the ruby tailed wasp is a species of cuckoo wasps cuckoo wasps are kleptoparasites they lay their eggs in the nests of other wasp species and their young consume the eggs or larva of the host wasp for sustenance.

The head and thorax of the ruby tailed wasp is a shiny blue green colour. Solitary bees and wasps do not live in colonies like honey bees. Chrysis ignita parasitize mason bees in particular. The head and thorax are a dazzling greenish blue and the abdomen is a firey red.

Their beautiful colours mask the intentions of this assassin. A typical hymenopteran has 2 pairs of wings though they are coupled together with tiny hooks so appear as 1 pair. The abdomen is a deep ruby red if seen close up this is perhaps one of the most beautiful british insects. Instead the female builds a nest by herself stocks it with pollen and lays an egg.

Wasps unlike bees wasps aren t fuzzy. It is likely to be a chrysidid cuckoo wasp a family of parasitoid and cleptoparasitic wasps. You can often see them running restlessly over walls and tree trunks constantly using their downward curving antennae to pick up the scent of their host insect. There are several species of ruby tailed wasps in the uk and ignita above is the one most frequently seen.

The name hymenoptera means membrane wings. In bright sunlight the vivid metallic colours of their bodies appear very jewel like. Chrysididae ruby tailed wasps. Some species have tiny hairs but they are not as evident as in bees.

Ruby tailed wasps are often called cuckoo wasps because they lay their eggs in the nests of other insects usually other wasp and bee species. The glittering metallic ruby tailed wasp is one of many species of solitary bee and wasp that can be spotted in a number of habitats from walls to sandy quarries rocky outcrops to tree trunks. Beautiful ruby tailed or jewel wasps. Chrysura hirsuta and chrysis fulgida.

These wasps have a number of adaptions which have evolved to equip them for their life cycle. Chrysis ignita is the species of the ruby tailed wasps that can be found across the uk from april through to september. Being barely 10mm in length they can be difficult to spot.