Emerald Cockroach Wasp vs Microceratotermes Carton Termite

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Emerald Cockroach Wasp Microceratotermes Carton Termite
Scientific Name Ampulex compressa Microcerotermes crassus
Order Hymenoptera Blattodea
Family Ampulicidae Termitidae
Size 22 mm 3-5 mm
Habitat Forests Forests
Diet Nectar Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Africa, Asia, Oceania Southeast Asia, northern Australia
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Emerald Cockroach Wasp

A brilliant emerald-green wasp that zombifies cockroaches. It delivers precise stings to the cockroachs brain, removing its escape reflex. Then leads it by the antenna like a dog on a leash.

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Did You Know?

The emerald cockroach wasp performs neurosurgery — it stings a cockroach twice in precise brain locations to disable its escape reflex, then walks it to a burrow like a zombie.

Microceratotermes Carton Termite

A wood-feeding termite found across Southeast Asia and Australia that builds small arboreal carton nests on trees. Workers construct covered runways along tree bark to access feeding sites. Soldiers have short, thick mandibles.

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Did You Know?

Multiple small nests of this species can be interconnected by covered galleries running along tree branches, forming a distributed colony network.