African Spider Wasp vs Horse Chestnut Leaf-miner

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute African Spider Wasp Horse Chestnut Leaf-miner
Scientific Name Hemipepsis capensis Cameraria ohridella
Order Hymenoptera Lepidoptera
Family Pompilidae Gracillariidae
Size 30-50 mm 7-8 mm wingspan
Habitat Underground Underground
Diet Predators Herbivores
Regions Southern Africa Originally Balkans, now across Europe
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

African Spider Wasp

A very large blue-black wasp with bright orange wings that hunts baboon spiders. It is one of Africa's largest solitary wasps.

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Did You Know?

A single female can overpower and paralyze a baboon spider three times her own weight with a precisely placed sting.

Horse Chestnut Leaf-miner

A tiny moth that has devastated horse chestnut trees across Europe since its discovery in 1985. Larvae mine inside leaves causing brown blotches. Spread with extraordinary speed across the continent.

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Did You Know?

Spread across the entire European continent in just 20 years, one of the fastest insect invasions ever recorded.