
Community identification
Ensign Wasp
Evaniidae
- Order & Family
- Order: Hymenoptera, Family: Evaniidae
- Size
- 3 to 7 mm in length
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