#bembicidae

[herpsandbirds]

Hello! I love your blog, thanks so much for all of the work you do running it!

Can you share some cool facts about cicada killers please? I have one living in my backyard this summer and was TERRIFIED of it when I first saw it, but it's actually super friendly!

This is also one of my favorite wasps!

Eastern Cicada Killer (Sphecius speciosus), family Bembicidae, found in the eastern 2/3 of the US, Mexico, and Central America

This large wasp grows to a length of 5 cm (2 in).

The males are bold and territorial, and will often approach people. However, they are not usually aggressive, and are not known to sting people often (unless handled).

Adults feed on nectar.

Females paralyze cicadas. They dig burrows into the ground, where the place the cicada. They then lay an egg on the cicada, which the larvae feed on.

photographs: Bill Maynard & Larcolt

photograph by Troy Bartlett

[every-day-creechur]

Glenostictia clypeata

A sand wasp from the USA and Mexico. Nests are typically short, simple burrows, with a single enlarged chamber at the bottom which is stocked with freshly paralysed prey items for the developing wasp larva.

image by Carlos Enrique carrera Treviño

[apocrital]

PERSONAL SUMMER WAUCE BLAST

My favourite wasps I have seen this summer

A lovely little chalcid that got stuck in some water and walked around a petri dish I was holding while she dried off

The gorls! Cynips divisa and C. longiventris on the same tree, featuring some bonus Macrodiplosis pustularis midge galls

Chalcids chalcids chalcids (first one is an encyrtid)

A cute ichneumonoid that showed up for my birthday picnic, and some Chrysis viridula hanging around potter wasp nests

A strange one which I think may be an ichneumonoid but I haven't seen any others with pitted carapaces like that, and my good friend the red legged spider wasp (Episyron rufipes). Their strength knows no bounds

Three Nemka viduata. I saw velvet ants for the first ever time this year and ended up seeing quite a few before going back home, including this male which I happened to catch near a female. What a wild size difference and what gorgeous wasps

Two more new families for me, an ensign wasp (Evaniidae) and a bembicid, although this Bembecinus is actually the second I found

My pfp, an emerald cuckoo wasp (Stilbum cyanurum) I just barely got a photo of (I'm as surprised as you are that it's identifiable to species) and one of the largest wasps I've seen, Sphex pruinosus

Two potter wasps, a Eumenes sp. (probably mediterranneus) and Delta unguiculatum

A carrot wasp (Gasteruption sp.) with a shorter tail than the ones I'm used to, fittingly sipping away at a carrot species, and my first beewolf (Philanthus triangulum), which I've been hoping to find for a long time, they're fascinating

A eupelmid I thought looked interesting and a classic wauce lauste in the sauce (Vespula germanica)

Bighead baby. A crabronid that looks about as ridiculous as all crabronids and a European hornet (Vespa crabro) going to town on an ash cicada (Cicada orni), which freaked my family out

And finally, an ichneumonid that briefly got into my room, I'm a sucker for the larger species just since I don't see them often, and my first leucospid, Leucospis dorsigera

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Sick of cicadas? Just call the eastern cicada-killer wasp! Female wasps specialize in hunting cicadas, using their stings to paralyze adult cicadas and dragging their victim into their nest. Later, they will lay their eggs in the bodies of the cicadas so that their young can have a tasty meal as soon as they emerge.

(Image: An eastern cicada killer wasp (Sphecius speciosus) by Dr. Joe Coehlo)

[mysticetus]

WHOLE FIELD OF STENIOLIA WASPS AT THE PLACE IM WORKING FOR THE SUMMER NOT A DRILL

[herpsandbirds]

I got a video of this big ol' wasp/hornet digging a hole and have no idea what she is.

I think she's a queen yellow jacket? But I can't tell for certain.

Pictures aren't great cause this is the only type of creature I have an irrational fear of so I stayed like a foot away 😅 (FL)

Wasp ID - FL, USA:

Ahhhhh, yes, sand wasps!

This one is called the Horse Guard Wasp (Stictia carolina), family Bembicidae.

This was appraise on horseflies, and other large flies. They dig burrows, often in sandy soil, where they put paralyzed prey, that they lay their eggs on.

[mysticetus]

I saw several Bembix americana yesterday, and I was ecstatic to see a (more common) genus related to my Steniolia! These girls were busy burrowing all up and down the softer sands on the cliffs beside the beach, and I even was able to collect one that I found dead nearby the burrows (she may have finished her job in laying eggs, or gotten in too intense a brawl with the other females, as they’d fight with one another if they got too close to each others burrows…?). Whidbey Island, WA, USA.

[apocrital]

Oh, do I have wasps for you! I have tons of great wasp obs on iNat I never posted here. Here are just a few!!!

Double-banded scoliid wasp on goldenrod:

Four-banded stink bug wasp (it's smiling!):

Ceropales maculata on wild carrot with bonus fly: 

American Pelecinid Wasp: