Sphex pensylvanicus
Sphex pensylvanicus, the great black wasp, one of the largest and most common insects in North America. Urbana, Illinois, USA
Sphex pensylvanicus, the great black wasp. Urbana, Illinois, USA
Ammophila
A thread-waisted wasp visits a late fall aster. Austin, Texas, USA.
Sceliphron laetum
The common mud-dauber wasp with a nearly completed set of cells. Yandoit, Victoria, Australia.
A mud-dauber wasp poses with a partially completed set of cells. This spider-eating species is common across Australia. Yandoit, Victoria, Australia.
A mud-dauber attempts to stuff one more spider into an already packed cell. These wasps find and paralyze dozens of spiders per day to provision their nests. Yandoit, Victoria, Australia.
Sceliphron caementarium
A mud-dauber wasp gathers a packet of mud for nest construction. Austin, Texas, USA.
A mud-dauber wasp carries a load back to her nest. Austin, Texas, USA.
A cross-section of an Australian mud-dauber nest reveals larvae and pupae at varying stages of development, along with the bodies of their spider prey. Yandoit, Victoria, Australia.
The silken cocoon of an overwintering mud-dauber wasp. Austin, Texas, USA.
Metamorphosis in the common mud dauber: larva, pupa, recently eclosed adult. Austin, Texas, USA.
Isodontia mexicana
A grass-carrying wasp feeds from fall goldenrod. Austin, Texas, USA.
This Isodontia mexicana wasp has been stylopized by Paraxenos parasites in the enigmatic order Strepsiptera, evident as bulges emerging between the abdominal segments. Illinois, USA
Isodontia
A grass-carrying wasp. Diamond Creek, Victoria, Australia.
Sphecius speciosus
A male cicada killer wasp (Sphecius speciosus) monitors his territory from the top of a coneflower. Urbana, Illinois, USA
Philanthus
Philanthus sand wasps mating. California, USA
Pison sp.
A Pison sp. mud wasp (Crabronidae). The sealed cells contain paralyzed spiders that will serve as food to her offspring. Yandoit, Victoria, Australia
Breaking open the sealed mud cell of a Pison mud wasp (Crabronidae) reveals a cache of paralyzed spiders. By not killing the spiders outright, the wasp's larvae can eat them before they start to rot. Yandoit, Victoria, Australia
A Pison sp. mud wasp (Crabronidae) nest. Yandoit, Victoria, Australia
Liris
A cricket-hunter wasp, Liris sp., drags her paralyzed prey through leaf litter on the way to her burrow. Austin, Texas, USA.
Crabronina
A small sand wasp emerges from her burrow. Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Texas, USA.
