''Ampulex dementor'' is a species of cockroach wasp native to

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, described in 2014 by Michael Ohl of the

Museum für Naturkunde The Natural History Museum (german: Museum für Naturkunde) is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major muse ...

in Berlin, Germany. The

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

was selected by visitors to the museum in an effort to raise awareness among the public of issues in

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and the description of

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

Description

''A. dementor'' is colored in red and black. Its

mandibles In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone ...

and most of its clypeus,

prothorax The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum ( dorsal), the prosternum ( ventral), and the propleuron ( lateral) o ...

mesothorax The mesothorax is the middle of the three segments of the thorax of hexapods, and bears the second pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the mesonotum (dorsal), the mesosternum (ventral), and the mesopleuron (lateral) on ...

, and posterolateral areas are all light red, while its abdomen and much of its head is black. Its wings are slightly yellow. It has long, slender legs, and a tubular petiole, as long as the

tergum A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the 'base' and posterior edge is called the 'apex' or 'ma ...

. Of about 170 species in the family Ampulicidae, ''Ampulex dementor'' is the largest. The length of females varies between 9.6 and 10.9 mm; the length of males is uncharacterized.

Behavior

The wasp has an unusual behavior towards

cockroaches Cockroaches (or roaches) are a paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known a ...

. As it stings its prey, it releases a

toxin A toxin is a naturally occurring organic poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. Toxins occur especially as a protein or conjugated protein. The term toxin was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849 ...

into the victim's neural nodes. This toxin blocks the cockroach's

octopamine Octopamine (molecular formula C8H11NO2; also known as OA, and also norsynephrine, ''para''-octopamine and others) is an organic chemical closely related to norepinephrine, and synthesized biologically by a homologous pathway. Octopamine is ofte ...

receptors, leaving the cockroach alive, but docile and with impaired motility. By prodding with its antennae, the predator then escorts its victim into the wasp's nest, where it can be dispatched more easily.

Etymology

At the time of the wasp's description, visitors to the

(in which the species was described) were asked through pamphlet distribution, to choose between four names, the third of which was ultimately chosen: * ''Ampulex bicolor'' (the Latin word means 'two colors', from '' bis'' = twice) due to its very distinctive colours, black and red * ''Ampulex mon'', an allusion to its origin, Thailand, and the

Mon people The Mon ( mnw, ဂကူမည်; my, မွန်လူမျိုး‌, ; th, มอญ, ) are an ethnic group who inhabit Lower Myanmar's Mon State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Region, the Irrawaddy Delta, and se ...

, one of the earliest ethnic groups to live there * ''Ampulex dementor'', referring to its behavioral resemblance to the

Dementors Magical creatures are an aspect of the fictional Wizarding World contained in the ''Harry Potter'' series and connected media, all created by British author J. K. Rowling. Throughout the seven main books of the series, Harry and his friends e ...

, fictional creatures from the

Harry Potter Books ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Ho ...

franchise, who suck the soul from their prey, leaving an empty body with neither thoughts nor emotions, somewhat as the wasp does * ''Ampulex plagiator'', because the species is an ant mimic, in particular 'copying' the general appearance and movement of an ant, thus making it a plagiarist in this regard

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16961401 Ampulicidae Insects described in 2014 Insects of Thailand

Description

Behavior

Etymology

See also

References