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Thread-Waisted Wasp

This was taken in the flower garden at Pineland Farm in New Gloucester, Maine.

 

Thread-waisted wasp, (subfamily Sphecinae), any of a group of large, common, solitary (nonsocial) wasps in the family Sphecidae (order Hymenoptera) that are named for the stalklike anterior (front) end of the abdomen. Thread-waisted wasps are typically more than 2.5 cm (about 1 inch) long and are parasitic on insects and spiders. The host is often numbed by malaxation, a pinching or crushing of the neck by the wasp’s pincerlike jaws, and paralyzed by the wasp’s sting. The wasp places the host’s body in a mud cell and lays an egg on it. Upon hatching, the larva consumes the host.[Encyclopedia Britannica]

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Uploaded on November 26, 2020
Taken on July 29, 2020