#405 - 414 - Hymenoptera Month!
February was remarkable for the range of bees and wasps I've seen. I'm still seeing at least one Golden-browed Resin Bee a day, and sometimes multiple. For those community members who are living in the Northern Hemisphere, I realise you might be feeling slightly disadvantaged right now, but please feel free to enter your ants, bees, or wasp photos in the Monthly Theme Contest :) Hymenopteran Art is welcome, too, of course. Have a look at addicted2wasps's many cartoons, for example :)
#405 - Blue Banded Bee
Amegilla, but not necessarily the same species from #5. For one thing, this one is black and white.
The five bands on the abdomen, and the colour of his eyes, suggests a male.
Fast asleep, clinging to the end of a twig by his little toothy-pegs.
Rockingham, Perth
#406 - Mud-dauber Wasp
February was an extraordinary month for bees and wasps. This, for example, is a Sceliphron Mud-dauber, large Sphecid wasps that hunt spiders and are distinguished by the very long narrow pedicle that connects the body to the rest of the abdomen.
Unfortunately, this particular individual flew off almost as soon as she realised the concrete was no longer soft enough to collect and build her nest out of, and long before I got close enough for a good photo.
Here's one by karthik
Wasp In Flight by karthik Nature photography on Flickr.
Sceliphron spirifex : Sa principale caractéristique est de fabriquer des nids en argile (dans des endroits à l’ombre et humide comme dans les toitures, les rochers, les poutres, …) et d’être arachnophage (comme toutes les guêpes maçonnes du genre Sceliphron. Chacun de ses « nids » contient jusqu’à une dizaine d’araignées de plusieurs espèces. Avant de fermer son nid, elle pond un œuf sur sa dernière des proies paralylsées mais vivante qu’elle y a entreposée. En France, les nids sont surtout visible dans les régions chaudes sud de la France et en Corse de mai à août. On y compte jusqu’à trois générations par an.
#407 - Pergid Sawfly Grub
A large sawfly grub, who was down on the ground investigating a dead leaf, instead of being up in the tree overheard, throwing up on people that disturb it. Seems to be a Perga sp.
Baldivis, Perth
#408 - Golden Digger Wasp
A digger wasp that I fished out of my pool. As she dried out, it turned out she was a marvelous metallic gold. Might be Sphex ermineus.
Wellard, Perth
#409 - Hylaeine Cellophane Bee
Hylaeus sp. Small wasp-like bees, of the Hylaeine subfamily ( masked bees, or black hairless bees ) and the Colletid family ( plasterer bees / polyester bees / cellophane bees ).
They carry pollen in their crops, as opposed to externally, hence the lack of hair. They seal their nests with a material that dries into something resembling plastic, hence the common names. Over half of Australia’s bees are colletids, and the Hylaeine species are frequently rather alike at first glance.
Baldivis, Perth
#410 - Banded Ichneumon?
Ichneumon promissorius, if I’m correct in the ID. On the other hand, hundreds of Ichneumons and Bracons use a similar colour scheme.
The females have white bands across the abdomen, and males one white band and white spots. At least, that’s a much as I can figure out from the various pages about this important parasitoid of caterpillar pupa, which the female will burrow down to, inject her egg, drink some of the doomed pupa’s haemolymph, and leave again.
Usually seen flying close to the ground, and welcome in crops affected by armyworms.
Baldivis, Perth
#411 - White Hairy Flower Wasp
Hairy Flower Wasp. Campsomeris sp.? A parasitoid of burrowing beetle grubs, and another wasp that managed to end up in the cab of my van. February was an extraordinary month for wasps and bees.
Baldivis, Perth
#412 - Tiphiid Flower Wasp
Ignore that Mutillid label - they’re related, and the females in Mutillidae and in the Thynnine and Diammine subfamilies of the Tiphiids are both wingless, but the tightly curled antennae, stout burrowing legs, and constricted abdomen, are all found in the Diamminae and the Thynninae. Or Thynnidae, since some sources have split the latter off into their own family.
If this is Diamma bicolor, the ‘Blue Ant’ then it’s a parasitoid of mole crickets. Other Thynnines are parasitoids of beetles. In life it would have had a bright metallic blue or green body, and red legs. Collected in the 1990s, so it may well have faded a bit.
drhoz:
clusterpod:
Female tiphiid wasp perhaps?
Waterfall walk, Deep Creek conservation park, South Australia
Diamma bicolor, or ‘Blue Ant’, and indeed a Tiphiid :) They have their own subfamily now, the Diamminae
'Blue Ants', like the wingless Mutillid 'Velvet Ants', have a notoriously painful sting, that can cause anaphylatic shock.
#413 - Gasteruptiid Wasp
Two wasps, out of the 500-odd species in the Gasteruptiid family. They pretty much all look alike - medium-sized, long slender wasps, with long ovipositors. White knees, and a white tip to the ovipositors, is pretty common too.
Parasites of solitary bees and wasps - they’ll lay an egg in the wasp or bee’s nest while she’s away, and the Gasteruptiid will eat the stored pollen, and the host’s egg or larvae.
Both of these are likely Gasteruption sp. Collected in the 90s
#414 - Megastigmine Torymid
Pulls down Insects of Australia, and trawls through the parasitic wasps… ok, looks like a Torymid, MEGASTIGMINAE subfamily… and they’re usually yellow or brown…. Googles Torymids, and gets a match on the 4th photo. Ooooh, yeah.
Other Torymid subfamilies are usually metallic, but Megastigmus and its relatives are usually yellow to brown. Torymids can be parasitoids of gall-forming insects, or gall-forming themselves, or take over the galls of other insects. Some species target figs, and one species has a habit of turning up in pot-potpourri that contains rose hips.
My windscreen one morning, Wellard, Perth.
#405 - Blue Banded Bee
Amegilla, but not necessarily the same species from #5. For one thing, this one is black and white.
The five bands on the abdomen, and the colour of his eyes, suggests a male.
Fast asleep, clinging to the end of a twig by his little toothy-pegs.
Rockingham, Perth
#406 - Mud-dauber Wasp
February was an extraordinary month for bees and wasps. This, for example, is a Sceliphron Mud-dauber, large Sphecid wasps that hunt spiders and are distinguished by the very long narrow pedicle that connects the body to the rest of the abdomen.
Unfortunately, this particular individual flew off almost as soon as she realised the concrete was no longer soft enough to collect and build her nest out of, and long before I got close enough for a good photo.
Here's one by karthik
Wasp In Flight by karthik Nature photography on Flickr.
Sceliphron spirifex : Sa principale caractéristique est de fabriquer des nids en argile (dans des endroits à l’ombre et humide comme dans les toitures, les rochers, les poutres, …) et d’être arachnophage (comme toutes les guêpes maçonnes du genre Sceliphron. Chacun de ses « nids » contient jusqu’à une dizaine d’araignées de plusieurs espèces. Avant de fermer son nid, elle pond un œuf sur sa dernière des proies paralylsées mais vivante qu’elle y a entreposée. En France, les nids sont surtout visible dans les régions chaudes sud de la France et en Corse de mai à août. On y compte jusqu’à trois générations par an.
#407 - Pergid Sawfly Grub
A large sawfly grub, who was down on the ground investigating a dead leaf, instead of being up in the tree overheard, throwing up on people that disturb it. Seems to be a Perga sp.
Baldivis, Perth
#408 - Golden Digger Wasp
A digger wasp that I fished out of my pool. As she dried out, it turned out she was a marvelous metallic gold. Might be Sphex ermineus.
Wellard, Perth
#409 - Hylaeine Cellophane Bee
Hylaeus sp. Small wasp-like bees, of the Hylaeine subfamily ( masked bees, or black hairless bees ) and the Colletid family ( plasterer bees / polyester bees / cellophane bees ).
They carry pollen in their crops, as opposed to externally, hence the lack of hair. They seal their nests with a material that dries into something resembling plastic, hence the common names. Over half of Australia’s bees are colletids, and the Hylaeine species are frequently rather alike at first glance.
Baldivis, Perth
#410 - Banded Ichneumon?
Ichneumon promissorius, if I’m correct in the ID. On the other hand, hundreds of Ichneumons and Bracons use a similar colour scheme.
The females have white bands across the abdomen, and males one white band and white spots. At least, that’s a much as I can figure out from the various pages about this important parasitoid of caterpillar pupa, which the female will burrow down to, inject her egg, drink some of the doomed pupa’s haemolymph, and leave again.
Usually seen flying close to the ground, and welcome in crops affected by armyworms.
Baldivis, Perth
#411 - White Hairy Flower Wasp
Hairy Flower Wasp. Campsomeris sp.? A parasitoid of burrowing beetle grubs, and another wasp that managed to end up in the cab of my van. February was an extraordinary month for wasps and bees.
Baldivis, Perth
#412 - Tiphiid Flower Wasp
Ignore that Mutillid label - they’re related, and the females in Mutillidae and in the Thynnine and Diammine subfamilies of the Tiphiids are both wingless, but the tightly curled antennae, stout burrowing legs, and constricted abdomen, are all found in the Diamminae and the Thynninae. Or Thynnidae, since some sources have split the latter off into their own family.
If this is Diamma bicolor, the ‘Blue Ant’ then it’s a parasitoid of mole crickets. Other Thynnines are parasitoids of beetles. In life it would have had a bright metallic blue or green body, and red legs. Collected in the 1990s, so it may well have faded a bit.
drhoz:
clusterpod:
Female tiphiid wasp perhaps?
Waterfall walk, Deep Creek conservation park, South Australia
Diamma bicolor, or ‘Blue Ant’, and indeed a Tiphiid :) They have their own subfamily now, the Diamminae
'Blue Ants', like the wingless Mutillid 'Velvet Ants', have a notoriously painful sting, that can cause anaphylatic shock.
#413 - Gasteruptiid Wasp
Two wasps, out of the 500-odd species in the Gasteruptiid family. They pretty much all look alike - medium-sized, long slender wasps, with long ovipositors. White knees, and a white tip to the ovipositors, is pretty common too.
Parasites of solitary bees and wasps - they’ll lay an egg in the wasp or bee’s nest while she’s away, and the Gasteruptiid will eat the stored pollen, and the host’s egg or larvae.
Both of these are likely Gasteruption sp. Collected in the 90s
#414 - Megastigmine Torymid
Pulls down Insects of Australia, and trawls through the parasitic wasps… ok, looks like a Torymid, MEGASTIGMINAE subfamily… and they’re usually yellow or brown…. Googles Torymids, and gets a match on the 4th photo. Ooooh, yeah.
Other Torymid subfamilies are usually metallic, but Megastigmus and its relatives are usually yellow to brown. Torymids can be parasitoids of gall-forming insects, or gall-forming themselves, or take over the galls of other insects. Some species target figs, and one species has a habit of turning up in pot-potpourri that contains rose hips.
My windscreen one morning, Wellard, Perth.