Lissopimpla excelsa

{{Short description|Species of wasp}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Lissopimpla excelsa (6536767405).jpg

| genus = Lissopimpla

| species = excelsa

| authority = (Costa, 1864)

| synonyms =

Lissopimpla semipunctata Kirby

Lissopimpla octo-guttata Kriechb.

}}

Lissopimpla excelsa, commonly known as the orchid dupe wasp, is a wasp of the family Ichneumonidae native to Australia. Although also found in New Zealand, where it is known as the dusky-winged ichneumonid, it has probably been introduced there. However, another source states that it may be native to New Zealand.{{Cite web|url=https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/science/plants-animals-fungi/animals/invertebrates/systematics/hymenoptera/ichneumonidae/factsheets/lissopimpla|title=Lissopimpla|website=Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-06-18}}

It pollinates all five Australian members of the orchid genus Cryptostylis. The male wasp mistakes the flower parts for a female wasp and attempts to copulate with it. Although the different species can occur together, they appear to inhibit cross-fertilisation and no hybrids are found in nature.{{cite book |title=Phylogeny and classification of the orchid family |author=Robert L. Dressler |year=1993 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=0-521-45058-6 |page=134|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_xL5qOVa-sC&dq=cryptostylis&pg=PA134 |access-date=22 November 2010}} This discovery was made by Australian naturalist Edith Coleman in 1928. The term "pseudocopulation" has since been coined to describe the phenomenon. The mimicking of flowers to resemble female wasp parts has since been recorded in other orchid genera.{{cite web |url=http://www.anu.edu.au/BoZo/orchid_pollination/ |title=Pollination by Sexual Deception in Australian Terrestrial Orchids |author=Rod Peakall |year=2007 |work=Australian National University website |publisher=Australian National University |location=Canberra, ACT |access-date=22 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211031917/http://www.anu.edu.au/BoZo/orchid_pollination/ |archive-date=11 December 2010 }}

Although termed pseudocopulation, vigorous copulation does occur, and the male wasp ejaculates enough so that the emissions are visible to the naked eye on the flower parts. A 2008 field study showed these to contain wasp sperm.{{cite journal|author1=A. C. Gaskett |author2=C. G. Winnick |author3=M. E. Herberstein |year=2008 |title=Orchid Sexual Deceit Provokes Ejaculation |journal=The American Naturalist |volume=171 |issue=6 |pages=E206-12 |url=http://www.bio.mq.edu.au/dept/centres/behavioural/Anne/Gaskett_etal08_AmNat_proof.pdf |access-date=22 November 2010 |doi=10.1086/587532 |pmid=18433329 |s2cid=16443767 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310085538/http://www.bio.mq.edu.au/dept/centres/behavioural/Anne/Gaskett_etal08_AmNat_proof.pdf |archive-date=10 March 2011 }} The flowers of Cryptostylis orchids and female wasp body parts are very similar in colour when viewed under a hymenopteran visual system, despite looking unlike to human eyes. Although the colours that ichneumon wasps see are unknown, bees and wasps have similar perception with green, blue and ultraviolet wavelengths.{{cite journal |author1=A. C. Gaskett |author2=M. E. Herberstein |year=2010 |title=Colour mimicry and sexual deception by Tongue orchids (Cryptostylis) |journal=Naturwissenschaften |volume=97 |issue=1 |pages=97–102 |url=http://www.andreluisacosta.com/Bombusterre/Naturwissenschaften/Communication_2010.pdf |access-date=22 November 2010 |doi=10.1007/s00114-009-0611-0 |pmid=19798479 |s2cid=1729573 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The Cryptostylis flowers have no smell detectable to humans, but have been shown to have an odour which attracts the wasp.{{cite journal|title=Chemical communication in the sexually deceptive orchid genus Cryptostylis|author1=Schiestl, Florian P. |author2=Peakall, Rod |author3=Mant, Jim |journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society|year=2004|volume=144|issue=2|pages=199–205|doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.2003.00249.x|doi-access=free}} Pseudocopulation with the orchid Cryptostylis subulata  occurs in New Zealand.{{Cite Q|Q58677551}}

The orchid dupe wasp was first described by Italian entomologist Achille Costa in 1864 as Pimpla excelsa, before being placed in (and becoming the type species of) the new genus Lissopimpla in 1889 by Joseph Kriechbaumer, who called it Lissopimpla octo-guttata Kriechb. It was also known for many years as Lissopimpla semipunctata, however Costa's name has priority and hence is the correct name.{{cite journal|url=http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_80/rsnz_80_02_002700.html |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand |title=New Zealand Ichneumonidae II |author=Parrot, Arthur W. |year=1952 |volume=80 |pages=155–57 |access-date=22 November 2010}} The head, mesosoma, legs and apical segments of the metasoma are red-brown, the first four segments of the metasoma are black with paired large white spots, and the wings are a dark smoky brown except at the apex of the fore wings. Like all members of its family, L. excelsa is parasitic. One species {{huh?|date=January 2025}} it preys upon is the noctuid moth pest species Helicoverpa armigera.{{cite book |title=Pests of field crops and pastures: identification and control |author=Peter T. Bailey |year=2007 |publisher=CSIRO Publishing |location=Collingwood, Victoria |isbn=978-0-643-06758-5 |page=274 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N10sAEHunWEC&dq=Lissopimpla+excelsa&pg=PA274 |access-date=22 November 2010}}