Solitary Wasps
What are they?
A large and variable group of medium to large-sized wasps. Many species dig burrows in open, sandy areas (like the sand wasps) and actively hunt out prey on open ground, making them easy to find and observe. However, their nervous, restless behavior makes photography - and often identification - difficult! Most species are host-specific when it comes to prey, and the type of prey can often help with identification. Though these are solitary insects, some species tend to gravitate to the same location and end up forming loose colonies of independent burrows.
Identification
Take careful note of leg color, abdomen markings and face pattern, as well as precise shape of abdomen.
Isodontia mexicana
An all-black species that is often seen around human habitation. One of the 'grass-carrying wasps', a group that makes nests of grass in holes and small cavities (they particularly seem to like window the hollow borders of window frames and bug screens!). These nests are furnished with paralyzed tree-crickets which are stored as food for their larval young.
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of bug screen |
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Common Thread-waisted Wasp Ammophila procera
A long but very slender wasp, commonly found throughout our area wherever there is sandy soil. Hunts caterpillars which are placed in single-celled burrows in sandy ground as food for their larvae.
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Black-and-yellow Mud Dauber Sceliphron caementarium
A very attractive, elongate species of solitary wasp that is most often seen when nectaring at flowers in late summer and fall. Females daub balls of mud onto ceilings and walls of wooden buildings (hence the English name) and fashion these into cellular homes, into which they place paralyzed spiders as food for their young.
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Palmodes dimidiatus
A medium-sized species that hunts katydids and grasshoppers in open ground or grassy areas. A variable species that can range from an all-red to all-black abdomen.
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Prionyx parkeri
A medium-sized species that hunts grasshoppers. Note that the abdomen is almost entirely reddish in color.
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Great Golden Digger Wasp Sphex ichnumoneus
A large and attractive wasp that can frequently be found nectaring at flowers in late summer and fall. Makes burrows in bare ground or grassy places. As with most species in its genus, it specializes in hunting katydids and bush crickets.
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