this mud dauber wasp (Sceliphron caementarium) seemed distressed about something in her clay nest. Turns out it had been commandeered by a keyhole wasp (Pachodynerus nasidens), who was now aggressively asserting ownership
keyhole wasps, which hunt weevils and other small beetles, will opportunistically nest in any sort of small cavity (such as a keyhole). The existing literature on this species doesn’t say anything about taking over other wasp‘s nests, only that they sometimes refurbish abandoned nests, but I guess this one didn’t get the memo.
This isn't the worst of their mischief though- they also have a habit of building nests that clog up the airspeed measuring instruments in planes and have caused several fatal crashes.
my favourite visitor to the pond is this beautiful Australian Hornet (Abispa ephippium). she regularly comes to the pond to drink, and luckily isnt too camera-shy!
despite being called a hornet, A. ephippium is actually a species of potter wasp. as such, she is a solitary creature who spends her time building mud-nests to house her larvae, and hunting caterpillars with which to feed them. as an adult, she is a pollinator who feeds on flower nectar.
she is about 30mm (1.2in) in length, but deft enough to carefully land on top of the water without breaking the surface tension (so far she is the biggest insect I've seen thats able to do this). its an amazing behaviour from both an entomologic and photographic perspective, these photos are some of my favourites <3
Drawing of the day: Megarhyssa greenei. Bonus mini collage of my favourite non-cartoon wasp drawings. I plan on adding more as I go along. For now, this is only a sample. Drawing wasps is keeping me sane during these dark times. Which one is your favourite?
[PHOTOS TAKEN: NOVEMBER 25TH, 2023 | Image IDs: Four photos, the first one of which contains a single red, black, and yellow male paper wasp on a folded up blue and white canopy, crawling up to a hole, from which another male paper wasp of the same species emerges in the following photos, the two of them investigating each other /End IDs.]
Here are these lovely little guys for the final Wasp Wednesday of 2023!!
Bees might be dancers, but wasps are drummers! Studies have shown that some species of social wasp will beat their abdomen, or gaster, against the side of the nest in a rhythmic fashion to alert others of nearby food.
(Image: A northern paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus) by Wayne Beirbaum)
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(yes it was dumb to get this close for a picture, but also yes, I thought it was a worthy sacrifice to capture her cute little face, just let me live a little : )