Weevil Wasp (Cerceris spp.)
Detailing the physical features, habits, territorial reach and other identifying qualities of the Weevil Wasp.
Updated: 8/20/2014; Authored By Staff Writer; Content ©www.InsectIdentification.org
Weevil Wasp
Weevil Wasps are solitary hunters. They prey on Weevils, using them as a food source for their own offspring.
Members of the genus Cerceris are hunters and gatherers of weevils and other beetles. Females dig nests in the ground along roads or in areas with loose sand or soil like baseball fields, parks and beaches. They compact the material and create cells where they lay a fertilized egg. They fly off, in search of future food for their larvae.
Female Weevil Wasps bite their prey and paralyze them. The weevil or beetle is then brought back to the nest and stuffed inside a cell where they will remain paralyzed. A hatching wasp larva will immediately begin feeding on the living, paralyzed weevil or beetle. Once the wasp has grown, it will pupate into its adult form and leave the nest.
