COCKROACH-HUNTING WASPS
A number of wasps of the families Ampulicidae, Sphecidae, and a very few species of Pompilidae have been found to provision their nests with nymphal or adult cockroaches. This habit of preying on cockroaches is primitive (Leclercq, 1954); Leclercq (personal communication, 1955) stated that this habit is always associated with the conservation of a number of structures considered as archaic from a purely morphological point of view.
The records of wasps of the genus Astata capturing cockroaches (e.g., Sickmann, 1893; St. Fargeau in Sharp, 1899) "all trace back to a questionable record by Lepeletier (1841) which probably was a misidentification of the predator" (K. V. Krombein, personal communication, 1956). Marshall (1866) suggested that the braconid Paxylomma buccata Bréb., which he found frequenting cockroach runs in Pembrokeshire, was parasitic on Ectobius nigripes Stephens; however, this wasp is undoubtedly parasitic on ants, probably on ant larvae (Donisthorpe and Wilkinson, 1930).
The wasps that are known to capture cockroaches, and summaries of their biology, are listed below.