Wasp nest beetle
The wasp nest beetle is a dark beetle with orange, pointy wing cases and feathery feelers that look like long eyelashes. Its baby has a sneaky secret: it grows up inside a wasp nest. The grown-up beetle lives only about a week.
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Fun facts
The tiny newly hatched larva holds on to a worker wasp and rides it all the way into the nest.
Inside the nest it smells just like the wasps, so they do not notice the stranger.
Its wing cases are too short to cover its whole body.
Grown-up beetles live for just 6 to 12 days.
The mother lays her eggs in rotting wood in autumn.
Most asked questions about Wasp nest beetle
?What is the eyelash bug?
It is a nickname for the wasp nest beetle, because its feathery feelers look like long eyelashes.
?Is the wasp nest beetle dangerous?
No. It does not sting or bite people.
?How does the wasp nest beetle get into a wasp nest?
Its tiny larva clings to a wasp and gets a free ride into the nest.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Metoecus paradoxus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Ripiphoridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Ripiphoridae
- Lives on
- Europe
- Also known as
- Eyelash bug
Where the facts come from
- Metoecus paradoxus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by mwkozlowski. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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