Nutrition

The adult Pelecinid wasp's diet is fairly straight forward and un-noteworthy.  The adult will feed mainly on flower nectar found in the wasps deciduous forest biome (Kate Redmond).  Pelecinid wasps also eat pollen, possibly making them a pollinator.   However, the wasp larvae is a different story.

The wasp larvae's food are beetles in the family Scarabaiedae, especially the May beetle (Engel and Grimaldi 2006).   P. polyturator is a parasitic wasp of these beetles, meaning the beetle is used as a "first meal" for the Pelecinid wasp's larvae. 


An adult May Beetle.  This insects larvae is the favorite food for the young P. polyturator.

 

Back to top

Back to home