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 On Mountain Mint

American Sand Wasp/Bembix americana.

Here’s another. The most frequently seen wasp on these flowers at Bush Terminal. There’s a good bit of sandy soil around, which is what these nest in.

They feed their young flower flies. Not maggots, adult flies.

Bicyrtes ventralis. This is another sand wasp (Bembicinae), a hunter of true bugs. First time I’ve seen one of these.

More commonly seen are Four-banded Stink Bug Wasps/Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus, whose prey is elucidated in their common name.

Thynnid Wasp/Myzinum, female.

mthew

One response to “Wasps On Mountain Mint”

  1. Clear Cutting A Pollinator Paradise – Backyard and Beyond

    […] Two Julys ago I cam across this narrow strip in Bush Terminal Park planted with Narrowleaf Mountain Mint/Pycnanthemum tenuifolium. And it was massively alive with insets: bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, etc. Especially wasps: I recorded 22 different species of wasp here over two summer seasons. A few were species I’d not seen much or at all elsewhere in NYC. (Here are a few.) […]

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