Ruby Tailed Wasp Species Uk

Some species have tiny hairs but they are not as evident as in bees.

Ruby tailed wasp species uk.

The abdomen is a deep ruby red if seen close up this is perhaps one of the most beautiful british insects. Solitary bees and wasps do not live in colonies like honey bees. The name hymenoptera means membrane wings. It is likely to be a chrysidid cuckoo wasp a family of parasitoid and cleptoparasitic wasps.

The head and thorax are a dazzling greenish blue and the abdomen is a firey red. Instead the female builds a nest by herself stocks it with pollen and lays an egg. 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. The head and thorax of the ruby tailed wasp is a shiny blue green colour.

However chrysis ignita is one of a number of very similar ruby tailed wasp species which are extremely hard to tell apart. Beautiful ruby tailed or jewel wasps. These wasps have a number of adaptions which have evolved to equip them for their life cycle. In bright sunlight the vivid metallic colours of their bodies appear very jewel like.

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. You can distinguish a wasp by its striking black and yellow stripes and slightly more elongated bodies. There are several species of ruby tailed wasps in the uk and ignita above is the one most frequently seen. It is a huge group with many species and a diverse range of forms.

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. 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. Chrysis ignita is the species of the ruby tailed wasps that can be found across the uk from april through to september. A typical hymenopteran has 2 pairs of wings though they are coupled together with tiny hooks so appear as 1 pair.

Chrysis ignita parasitize mason bees in particular. Wasps unlike bees wasps aren t fuzzy. 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. Chrysididae ruby tailed wasps.

Bees wasps and ants are all part of an insect order called hymenoptera. Chrysura hirsuta and chrysis fulgida. Each wasp species has its own characteristic body markings which you can spot only up close.