Hot answers tagged

21 votes
Accepted

Which organism built this 2 cm long sandy tube?

This is the nest of a Mud dauber, also known as Mud wasp. This was possibly made by a Black and Yellow Mud dauber based on the following information. The nest of the black and yellow mud dauber is a ...
4265726E6172646F's user avatar
16 votes
Accepted

What is this insect in North Carolina?

This is some species of ichneumon wasp. The ichneumon wasps are parasitoid wasps in the order Hymenoptera. They commonly parasitize other invertebrates, especially larvae and pupae of Coleoptera, ...
theforestecologist's user avatar
14 votes
Accepted

What species of wasp is this? And how to get rid of them?

These are European paper wasps. (They look very similar to yellowjacket wasps but you can notice the antennae; they are brown here whereas they are black in case of yellowjackets. There are other ...
WYSIWYG's user avatar
  • 35.2k
12 votes

What is this red and white striped wasp?

First of all, it isn't a wasp, but a true bug. After a long search in the databases about Hong-Kong's insects, I found that it is a red cotton stainer. Wikipedia says "Dysdercus cingulatus occurs in ...
The_Mad_Fish's user avatar
8 votes

Wasp? Wicked looking bug

That is a horntail, family Siricidae. https://www.insectimages.org/browse/taxthumb.cfm?fam=455 They are a family of sawflies. Not technically wasps, but they are Hymenoptera.
Karl Kjer's user avatar
  • 7,637
8 votes
Accepted

What wasp like insect breeds in clay pots with dead spiders?

It's some sort of potter wasp/mason wasp (Eumeninae). The spiders are paralyzed and brought there as food for its larvae. Here is an example of an opened nest I found on Bugguide.net that looks ...
picapica's user avatar
  • 2,049
7 votes
Accepted

What is this bee/wasp nest?

This is likely a honeycomb created by some species of honey bee. A beekeeper (Jessie Brown) from New Mexico shared to her blog the following photos of a "free form" bee hive some of her bees created: ...
theforestecologist's user avatar
6 votes

Wasp? Wicked looking bug

Yeah, she looks dangerous doesn't she. However, the 'stinger' is used for ovispositing eggs in wood. These wasps do not sting. This species is called Pigeon Tremex Horntail, Tremex Columba. Nice ...
RHA's user avatar
  • 3,657
6 votes

How do bees and wasps react to carnivorous plants?

I'm not going to directly answer your question (which I think is an interesting one) because I do not have the data. However, I do want to share some anecdotal experience with you. (As such, my answer ...
theforestecologist's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Need help identifying this wasp/hornet

This looks like a European hornet Vespa crabro to me. Wasp-like appearance, red on head and thorax and base of the abdomen. And the legs are red/dark, not yellow. Picture from wikipedia Hornets can ...
RHA's user avatar
  • 3,657
5 votes
Accepted

Evolution of hunting behavior of parasitoid wasps

Context is everything. Lets start by working back to front. larvae eat the tarantula organs in a specific sequence to keep it alive as long as possible. Most of the time if the larva eat the ...
John's user avatar
  • 14.3k
5 votes
Accepted

Wasp nest destroyed by some big wasp like insect: is that the queen?

The wasp is a Ropalidia marginata The assailant is a greater banded hornet . There is a video of one attacking a wasp nest here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPLRpEkNv8Q Hornets can attack ...
bandybabboon's user avatar
  • 10.3k
4 votes
Accepted

What is this wasp?

This specimen is most likely a Polistes sp. from the Vespidae-family. Some Polistes species are sometimes referred to as paper wasps. Coloring is not the primary criterion for identification here. ...
DominikS's user avatar
  • 358
4 votes

How large might a paper wasp nest become?

According to multiple reports (here, here and here), a 7m (22ft) paper wasp nest was found in an abandoned home in San Sebastian de La Gomera on the island of Tenerife (~100km off the shore from ...
theforestecologist's user avatar
4 votes

What insect is this? Found in a dying tree

From Gil Wizen's page, it's a wasp. Giant ichneumon wasps (genus Megarhyssa) are some of the biggest North American wasps thanks to the females’ long (10cm) ovipositor, which is longer than the wasp’...
anongoodnurse's user avatar
4 votes

Unknown insect in southern Kansas

This is a male Metric Paper Wasp (Polistes metricus). Bugguide is an an authoritative source for arthropods in North America and describes these as: Very dark--abdomen is black... thorax dark reddish-...
JimN's user avatar
  • 1,856
3 votes
Accepted

Is it possible to identify a worm being carried by a depicted wasp?

Not too sure but by the general look of it, it seems to be the leaf beetle Chrysomela populi. This is mostly from the idea that they are very common in Europe and the distribution of the spots on its ...
DarwinsCorn's user avatar
3 votes
Accepted

How do paper wasp larvae not fall from their nest?

Social wasp larvae hatch from an overhanging egg, and they grow up through a series of skin moults, typically 5 in number. The shed skins accumulate terminally behind their pointed anus, where the egg ...
Scientist's user avatar
  • 318
3 votes
Accepted

Solitary wasp larval behavior

It depends on species and situation. There are a lot of different solitary wasps, the kind you are referring to are parasitic wasps, that lay their eggs in or on a host for the larvae to feed on ...
Hyfnae's user avatar
  • 238
3 votes
Accepted

Does anyone know what insect is this?

This looks like it's a female Pelecinid parasitic wasp (see this page for an overview of the family in the western hemisphere); from your location the species is either Pelecinus polyturator or ...
user32396's user avatar
  • 548
3 votes
Accepted

Is this a nest and which wasp species?

Looks like this is a European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) More precisely a female, judging by the round end of the abdomen. Information regarding the nest it was found in: These bees ...
4265726E6172646F's user avatar
3 votes
Accepted

Is this a spiders net or a wasp net?

This looks pretty much like a paper nest of a Vespinae, the subfamiliy where wasps or hornets belong to: typical is the ball-like, gray construction with the entrance on the bottom (latter is not ...
bathyscapher's user avatar
3 votes
Accepted

Were these spiders burried alive by a spider wasp?

I agree, I'd say it is the work of a spider wasp. I'm not familiar with those, so I can't determine what species or genus it might be. But it sure does look similar to some of those stages of the ...
nika's user avatar
  • 189
2 votes

Is this is a parasitic wasp, which I found in Blackpool Lancashire?

Yes it is ! If you look closely at the wing patterns, they are characteristic of the Ichneumonidae family, as you can see below*. This family contains thousands of species which all are parasitoids. ...
Kjian's user avatar
  • 476
2 votes

What type of wasp is this?

It is hard to tell from the image, but using this species key for Polistes wasps, it is reasonable to conclude that your wasp is either P. metricus or P. fuscatus. If you look at this image of a P. ...
Praearcturus's user avatar
2 votes

Which ant/wasp species is that?

Given the presence of a petiole and postpetiole, this is most likely a winged ant (drone or queen), such as this similar one here: https://bugguide.net/node/view/57281
ArkoFlake15's user avatar
1 vote
Accepted

Can wasps see under moonlight?

No.... probably not... wasp cannot see at night... their scotopic vision{dim light vision} is not well develop so before sunset they return back to thier nest... so at night.. probably you can get ...
factfile's user avatar
  • 126
1 vote

Why are fairyflies so small?

Fairy flies can be so small because they mooch off other insects' eggs, this is one of the reasons why they need to be small, then after that, they don't need to eat as they will die in only a few ...
A User's user avatar
  • 29
1 vote

Which species of bee or wasp are in this photo?

If these bees are definitely stingless, they're members of the Meliponini tribe, which discounts those Halictid IDs. I'm only familiar with Nearctic Halictidae, but practically every species I'm aware ...
Vampire Fat's user avatar
1 vote

What species of wasp is this? And how to get rid of them?

Stay vigilant. As you've noticed, once wasps get established in an area, they'll reproduce and spread out. Continue to watch for and eradicate nests. Hardware stores will sell a variety of chemical ...
user76491's user avatar

Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible