Ensign Wasp

Natural Habitat

Typically found indoors in urban areas or outdoors nesting in crevices and leaf litter

Diet & Feeding

Adults feed on flower nectar; larvae are predatory and develop inside the egg cases (oothecae) of cockroaches

Behavior Patterns

Notable for their flattened, triangular abdomen that they pump up and down while walking; they are solitary parasites of cockroaches

Risks & Benefits

Benefits humans by acting as a natural biological control against cockroach populations; they are harmless to humans as they do not sting or bite

Identified on: 5/25/2026