"My ABC's of Nature" Series-Letter "T"- Part 40 (WP201)
LETTER "T"
THREAD WAISTED WASP
I found this Thread Waisted Wasp in my next door neighbor's yard. It didn't stay on the plant long before it flew to the ground and landed approximately nine feet away onto the dirt. I followed it and began taking photos while crouched down, for what felt like an hour. I wasn't about to sit on the dirt because I was afraid something might end up crawling on me. You should have seen me trying to stand up after this. I had a hell of a time.
This is the Eremnophila aureonotata species. It got its name because of it's incredibly thin waist. In the U.S. you will find these wasps from July through September. Adults feed on nectar and they especially like Queen Anne's Lace, Asters, Goldenrods and Horsemint. Adults also feed on body fluids of their prey.
Here is a photo of this Thin Waisted Wasp's nest. Look at that cute little heart entrance.
These wasps are solitary and mating is usually done in the summer. Females build underground burrows for their nest, where there is little or no vegetation.
She is now walking towards her nest, or should I say running because she sure was fast.
After she lays her fertilized eggs, she will hunt for larvae food...a plump caterpillar. She stings to paralyze the caterpillar; not to kill it because she wants the caterpillar to stay fresh for her babies.
Here she is getting ready to enter her nest.
She then drags the paralyzed caterpillar into her nest with her strong jaws and places it next to her eggs. Afterwards, she covers the entrance to her nest with dirt, debris and rocks and flies away; never to return again. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae will feed on the caterpillar until they pupate. When they emerge from the burrow, they are winged adults.
Here she is going down the hole.
Here she is exiting her nest; stinger first.
She is now walking up to what appears to be a pile of dirt. I think she was getting ready to close the nest. See the leaf in the background with a heart shaped hole? I think she was going to put that leaf over the hole to hide it, when she was finished filling the hole with dirt. I didn't know what she was doing at the time, and I came to this conclusion after doing my research.
Here she is grabbing a mouthful. Before doing my research, I thought that pile of dirt was an ant hill and that she was taking ants to her nest.
She is now walking back to her nest. Yay! I got a photo of her face!
She walks towards her nest.
Going down.
Backs out once again.
I lost count of how many photos I took trying to capture her going down the hole and exiting the hole. I had so many photos of just the nest with no wasp. I watched this thin waisted wasp go back and forth with a mouthful at least a dozen times. My legs were killing me so it was time to leave. It took me another 10 minutes to get to a standing position, probably because I am an old-timer...remember? Oh, the things we do to get photos for our blogs. I sure wish I had a video of this one.
This series will continue with the letter "T" tomorrow or Friday. Thanks for looking!
Information Source: bugguide.net, insectidentification.org
Image Source: 100% own work.