African Fig Wasp vs Japanese Giant Ichneumon

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute African Fig Wasp Japanese Giant Ichneumon
Scientific Name Ceratosolen capensis Megarhyssa praecellens
Order Hymenoptera Hymenoptera
Family Agaonidae Ichneumonidae
Size 1-3 mm 30-45 mm body, ovipositor up to 80 mm
Habitat Rivers & Streams Forests
Diet Nectar Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Southern Africa, East Africa Japan, Eastern Asia
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

African Fig Wasp

A tiny wasp with an obligate mutualistic relationship with African fig trees. Females enter figs through a narrow opening to pollinate and lay eggs.

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Did You Know?

Each fig species has its own specific fig wasp pollinator, making them one of nature's most precise co-evolutionary partnerships.

Japanese Giant Ichneumon

One of the largest ichneumon wasps in Asia with a remarkably long ovipositor. It parasitizes wood-boring horntail larvae in Japanese forests.

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Did You Know?

Japanese naturalists have studied this species since the Edo period, and it appears in historical entomological scrolls.