That Dirt Bank Again

A return visit to a local patch of dirt. Here’s one of two Pseudomethoca frigida velvet ants seen. These are actually wasps: the females are wingless and race around on the ground.

They are endoparasites, laying their eggs inside ground-nesting bee nests.

That is, if they can get in. Here, two Lasioglossum genus bees wrestle with the velvet ant as a third blocks the entrance.

I saw several instances of bee/wasp fighting, but this was a two bee/one wasp tussle.

Here she comes again…

On another visit, I spy this Hump-backed Beewolf/Philanthus gibbosus hunting for bees.