Oreumenes decoratus is a large of East Asia that builds rounded mud nests and stocks them with paralyzed caterpillars for its young. It lives in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan and isn't found in the US. It's a wasp that rarely stings unless grabbed.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 0.7–1.2 in (18–30 mm) long, black with orange-yellow markings. The first segment of the abdomen is slim, and the rest is round and swollen.
Where it lives
- Range
- Native to China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. It doesn't occur in the US.
Behavior
- Diet
- Females hunt caterpillars as food for their larvae. In Japan, inchworms are recorded as a main prey.
- Social life
- A solitary wasp: each female builds and stocks her own nest, with no colony or workers.
Life cycle
- Nest
- A rounded mud nest made of a dozen or more cells stuck together, usually attached to a wall.
- Larva
- Each cell is packed with paralyzed caterpillars, and the larva feeds on the stored prey.
Cautions
- Cautions
- It can sting if grabbed, but it's not aggressive and rarely stings people.
Name and classification
- About the name
- It has no widely used English name. It's the only species in the genus Oreumenes. Older references place it in Eumenes as Eumenes decoratus, and Oreumenes japonicus is an older name for the same wasp.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
More species to explore
Record what you meet and build your own collection
Your photos are kept with their date and place, and you can fill regional albums one species at a time.