Jewel Wasp Ampulex compressa

The Jewel Wasp, also called the Emerald Cockroach Wasp, is a pretty mettallic green wasp with red middle and back thighs. It is native to tropical regions of Africa, South and Southeast Asia. It has been introduced to Hawaii and Brazil.

It is one of several "cockroach wasps" of its family which parasitise cockroaches. The female stings to immobilise temporarily and then stings a precise part of the cockroach brain to inhibit escape, leads it by its antennae to its burrow and lays 1-2 eggs in the unfortunate zombie insect before burying it alive. She can lay 1-2 eggs in several cockroaches in individual burrows.

The female is 2-3cm long and the male about half that length and without a stinger.