- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Quick, get your camera ready! There's a wasp!
Ever heard anyone say that?
We remember capturing an image of a European paper wasp, Polistes dominula, that had just shredded a caterpillar and was about to fly the prey back to her colony. It was a Gulf Fritillary caterpillar, Agraulis vanillae. Score: European paper wasp: 1; Gulf Fritillary caterpillar, 0.
Then there was the beewolf, a crabronid wasp from the genus Philanthus, that almost made a fatal mistake. It landed on the same buckwheat blossom occupied by a praying mantis. The beewolf escaped. Score: Beewolf, 1; Mantis, 0.
Like to learn more about wasps?
The Bohart Museum of Entomology is hosting an open house on social wasps from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 20 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Drive, UC Davis campus. It's free and family friendly. UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the museum, will be there to answer questions about wasps and show specimens.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You sip some nectar, and suddenly, a flash of yellow.
A wolf is at your door.
It's a beewolf, a crabronid wasp from the genus Philanthus, as identified by Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis, and native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, UC Davis emeritus professor of entomology.
Beewolves, also known as bee hunters, prey upon small bees, thus their name. They carry their kill to their offspring in their underground nests.
The beewolf we saw yesterday wasn't big enough to prey on a honey bee, but yes, there are European species, European species, Philanthus triangulum, that can.
Thorp says that this particular beewolf (below) appears to be a Philanthus multimaculatus. Check out the BugGuide.net image.
So tiny, but so colorful, too.