Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Scoliid wasp

Look at this beauty I spotted yesterday at my mother's house near Boerne. He/she must have measured nearly 2 inches long! I thought it might be a cicada killer. Nope. I had to enlist experts at Bugguide.net to  help me with this ID. Meet Campsomeris ephippium (no common name), a member of Scoliidae wasp family. The females dig into the ground, sting a host grub, and lay their eggs on the paralyzed grub. Adults nectar, as this one was doing on a mountain laurel. Amazing!



1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wow! Great info and even greater photos Sheryl. Thanks for posting!

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