cuckoo wasp

English

Chrysis inaequalis

Alternative forms

• cuckoo-wasp

Noun

cuckoo wasp (plural cuckoo wasps)

1. Any of the many wasps of the family Chrysididae that are kleptoparasites or parasitoids and are often brightly coloured.
   • 1904, Experiment Station Record, volume 15, page 280:

     In this volume the author presents an account of the ants and cuckoo wasps.

   • 1916, Edward Step, Marvels of Insect Life: A Popular Account of Structure and Habit‎^[1], page 470:

     In our account of the mason-wasps, we have referred to the destruction of their grubs by the interposition of the ruby-tails or cuckoo-wasps.

   • 1921, Bulletin of the Boston Society of Natural History, volumes 25-48, page 133:

     Dr. L. H. Taylor determined the cuckoo-wasps (Chrysididae); Dr. H. T. Fernald the Sphecidae; […] .

Synonyms

• (any species of family Chrysididae): chrysidid