Spruce Budworm vs Emerald Cockroach Wasp

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Spruce Budworm Emerald Cockroach Wasp
Scientific Name Choristoneura fumiferana Ampulex compressa
Order Lepidoptera Hymenoptera
Family Tortricidae Ampulicidae
Size 20-28 mm wingspan 22 mm
Habitat Forests Forests
Diet Omnivores Nectar Feeders
Regions North America Africa, Asia, Oceania
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Spruce Budworm

A small mottled grey-brown moth that is the most destructive forest pest in North America. Outbreaks can kill millions of hectares of spruce and fir forest.

💡

Did You Know?

A single outbreak in the 1970s-80s damaged more timber than all forest fires in Canada combined.

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.

💡

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.