Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Wasps and Caterpillars

This Euodynerus hidalgo wasp was digging into this old rudbeckia (or maybe it’s a coreopsis).
For almost nine minutes.
This European Tube Wasp (Ancistrocerus gazella) seemed interested.
Ah-hah!
Caterpillar! From deep inside the flower. I think it’s Homoeosoma genus.
The Tube Wasp did not steal this prize.
The wasp flew her prey off to her nest, where it will feed her young.

Several minutes earlier, in the same patch, an earlier extraction of a caterpillar. Could be the same female wasp. I don’t know how many caterpillars she needs to provision her nest, but up to twenty get stuffed into a Tube Wasp’s.
Same patch, same time period: caterpillar crawling up flower stem and sliding into what seemed like a pre-existing hole in the flower. A future moth…or wasp food?

mthew

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2 responses to “Wasps and Caterpillars”

  1. Donna Evans

    Wow! Spectacular photos! of one of the more alarming -yet essential!- reproduction methods allowing the abundance of life forms on Earth to flourish. Still: Wow!

    Reply
  2. Mud Wasps | Backyard and Beyond

    […] Three out of four of these Potter and Mason Wasps (Subfamily Eumeninae) don’t have common names, suggesting they are sadly under-known. The one that does is an introduced species that’s been in North America for at least 60 years. Potter wasps build free-standing nests out of mud. Mason wasps use mud to line and seal wooden cavities–they may well show up at your “bee hotel.” They all provision their larvae with caterpillars, sometimes beetle larvae. As in many carnivorous wasps species, the adults actually eat nectar. Two years ago, I observed some caterpillar-hunting action. […]

    Reply

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