Leafcutter Bee Predator Alert - Kleptoparasitic Wasps

Sapgya wasps are kleptoparasitic wasps that are generally small black wasps. Kleptoparasitism is defined when one animal takes food or nests from another animal and uses it as their own. The female sapgya wasps oviposits her eggs into the nest of leafcutter bees and the developing larvae consume both the leafcutter larva and the supply of food that was left.

If you see these tiny little wasps in and around your leafcutter bees, they are easy to squish and will not sting you. When our owner, Jim Watts, was a little boy. He would go out with his dad to service the leafcutter bees in the farmers crops. His job was to squish these little predators and he got quite good at it.

Here’s a video we did showing you what they look like and how easy they are to squish.

Another type of Sapgy Wasps are black and yellow and a bit bigger. These wasps can also be squished or you can dilute soap with water in a spray bottle to spray them and then squish them.