Wasp Provisions and Seals Nest
Well, this little lady provided me with hours of entertainment today. She's been non-stop nest making in my garden "bee-hotel", and it's been fascinating to watch and document.
1, She returns repeatedly with aphids and takes them into the nest. These will form the food-store for her larvae.
2. I came back later and she had started sealing the nest. She was returning with little balls of resin. From what I understand, these are collected from pine trees.
3. The resin balls are worked with her mandibles; each little ball slowly completing the seal. It was at this point I noticed that the resin seal was "reinforced" with fragments of wood. I had noticed that during the sealing process, she kept running off and entering empty holes. She was collecting wood fragments from them!
4. I managed to re-position and get a shot of her returning with a fragment of wood. She carefully inserted it into the resin layer.
I would imagine that this reinforced resin would provide a really good seal. There have been lots of Gasteruption jaculator wasps parasitising nest holes in the bee-hotel. It will be interesting to see whether she can pierce this with her slender ovipositor.
I don't know what type of wasp this is. I also have some Passaloecus aphid-hunting wasps using the bee hotel, but they look different to this one; with ivory-coloured markings on their mandibles.
[Update: I've been advised that this is one of the Pemphredonid wasps.]
Wasp Provisions and Seals Nest
Well, this little lady provided me with hours of entertainment today. She's been non-stop nest making in my garden "bee-hotel", and it's been fascinating to watch and document.
1, She returns repeatedly with aphids and takes them into the nest. These will form the food-store for her larvae.
2. I came back later and she had started sealing the nest. She was returning with little balls of resin. From what I understand, these are collected from pine trees.
3. The resin balls are worked with her mandibles; each little ball slowly completing the seal. It was at this point I noticed that the resin seal was "reinforced" with fragments of wood. I had noticed that during the sealing process, she kept running off and entering empty holes. She was collecting wood fragments from them!
4. I managed to re-position and get a shot of her returning with a fragment of wood. She carefully inserted it into the resin layer.
I would imagine that this reinforced resin would provide a really good seal. There have been lots of Gasteruption jaculator wasps parasitising nest holes in the bee-hotel. It will be interesting to see whether she can pierce this with her slender ovipositor.
I don't know what type of wasp this is. I also have some Passaloecus aphid-hunting wasps using the bee hotel, but they look different to this one; with ivory-coloured markings on their mandibles.
[Update: I've been advised that this is one of the Pemphredonid wasps.]