Wasp Beetle
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Wasp beetles are native to the Polta Barrier Islands and surrounding area. They are known for their unusual reproductive strategy. Female beetles will chemically mask their scent and crawl into wasp nests without disturbing the wasps. She looks for comb cells inside of the nest containing recently laid eggs and lays her own eggs inside. They look identical to the wasp eggs but are slightly bigger. The wasps then protect the eggs until they hatch. The beetle larva hatches first and will eat the existing wasp egg as its first meal. It looks like and smells like a wasp larva, so the wasps will feed it while it grows. Then, once it reaches maturity, the beetle leaves the nest to feed on nectar and find a mate.
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