Stictia punctata

Appearance

It is a wasp of about 2.5 cm in size. Yellow and black with green eyes.

Distribution

Neotropical, Central and South America.

Behavior

Nests are typically short, simple burrows, with a single enlarged chamber at the bottom which is stocked with freshly killed prey items for the developing wasp larva; the egg may sometimes be laid before the chamber is completely stocked. It is common for numerous females to excavate nests within a small area where the soil is suitable, creating large and sometimes very dense nesting aggregations, which tend to attract various species of parasitic flies and wasps, many of which are cleptoparasites; in some cases, the sand wasps prey on their own parasites, a surprisingly rare phenomenon in the animal kingdom.

Habitat

Sandy or muddy areas in tropical forest clearings.

Food

They predate flies such as tabanids.