Ampulex amoena Stål
Synonymy.—Ampulex novarae Saussure [Krombein, personal communication, 1957].
Natural hosts.—Periplaneta americana and Periplaneta australasiae, both as small nymphs, Formosa (Sonan, 1924, 1927): The wasp stings a nymph about one inch long and carries it to a suitable place, such as bamboo pipes, folds of newspaper, or books (in houses), for oviposition.
Periplaneta picea, Japan (Kamo, 1957; Kohriba, 1957).
Experimental hosts.—Periplaneta picea, Japan (Kamo, 1957; Kohriba, 1957).
Kamo (1957) observed that in the field both males and females sucked juices from wounds they made in the stems of Clerodendron trichotomum Thunberg or Ilex rotunda Thunberg. Kohriba (1957), on the other hand, found both sexes sucking sap of Abies sp. and other trees from points injured by the rostrum of cicadas. Kamo (1957) observed that the female wasp grasped the cockroach by a tergum and stung it several times in the thorax. The wasp always amputated the antennae of the prey and sucked up the fluid oozing from the cut antennae. The wasp egg was placed on the mesocoxa of the cockroach. In the laboratory as many as three cockroaches, each with a wasp egg, were stored in artificial nests per day. Kohriba (1957) observed similar behavior in the laboratory and made these additional notes. The paralyzed cockroach could move its legs and was led to the nest by the wasp which seized its antennae. The egg hatched in 2 days, and after sucking up body fluid for 2 days the larva began to devour the prey. Three days later the larva spun its cocoon, and about one month after spinning a female wasp emerged.
Ampulex assimilis Kohl
Natural hosts.—Blatta lateralis, wingless females, Iraq (Hingston, 1925): Nesting sites are holes in palm trees, galleries of beetles, or tunnels in ground. The wasp first seizes a cockroach by the edge of its thorax and stings it in the thoracic region, then seizes the cockroach by an antenna and pulls and leads it to the nest. The wasp deposits her egg on the outer surface of the femur of the cockroach's midleg. The nest is closed with debris; later the cockroach recovers from the sting. The wasp larva first feeds externally, then bores into the cockroach and devours the internal organs. Pupation occurs inside the exoskeleton of the cockroach.
Ampulex canaliculata (Say)
Synonymy.—Rhinopsis caniculatus.