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Ancistrocerus antilope · vapsva

  • lobed mason wasp
  • Antilopen-Hakenwespe
  • kiiltokoloampiainen
  • bolica chyżówka
  • blank murargeting

They usually feed on small lepidopterous caterpillars from several families, for example, Pyralidae and Gelechiidae, and more rarely beetle and sawfly larvae. Nests in bramble and elder stems, in holes in wood, old mortar walls, forming a series of linear cells separated by clay partitions. After an egg is laid, several paralysed caterpillars are forced into the cell. The egg hatches after a few days and the larva consumes the prey in one or two weeks. The larva spins a cocoon and enters winter diapause as a pre-pupa.