Ensign wasp

Indoors and outdoors, especially near buildings where cockroaches occur; common in warm regions.

Adults take nectar and other sugary liquids. Larvae develop as solitary parasitoids in cockroach egg cases (oothecae).

Females search for cockroach egg cases and lay an egg in one; the wasp larva consumes the eggs. Adults often flick their small, flag-like abdomen while walking.

Harmless to people and property; it helps suppress cockroach populations.