Polistes!
What are you doing in what seems to be this endless heat? Mostly staying inside except for early morning tending your gardens or chores via the car? How about a good book? I have a recommendation for you, Endless Forms, The Secret World of Wasps by Seirian Sumner. It is packed filled with information about these wonderful creatures with all the drama of any society! The wasps have been around for one hundred million years before the adorable bees had arrived.
In fact, “Wasps visit a diverse array of flowers, and they carry pollen and even seeds.” According to the author of the aforementioned book the species of Polistes paper wasps in one study was the supreme pollinator of the Whorled Milkweed in their experiment. The wasps took over the job when the bees were excluded. And did a superb job! Perhaps you might want to rethink your view of the wasps. Especially if it was unfavorable? I hope so! Certainly they are a vital part of the ecological community.
Go paper wasps!
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The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know
We mostly like the wasps that build nests around the house. They dont bother us and we don’t bother them. It works. They really are beautifully marked.
Thank you for taking care of your wasps!😊
Amazing that wasps are so much older than bees. Is it because bees co-evolved with angiosperms as their pollinators while wasps are primarily predators so weren’t dependent on the evolution of flowering plants?
I feel like it was something involving that but it’s been a bit since we listened to that book. But the book definitely goes into this.
Even more reasons to explore this book! Thanks!
Suzanne, You would enjoy the read. 😊
Our red wasps are plentiful this year. They come to my water sources a lot or I see them on the dead trees trying to get “paper”. But just this week I have seen them feeding on the TX Persimmons. Birds peck them open then insects can feed on them easily. I hadn’t noticed wasps on the pulp before. Don’t really know if they are going for them as food or as moisture.
Wonderful! Since they are on fruits, I bet they have a sweet tooth 😉 Just my guess.
I am pleased to have a big diversity of wasps in our yard! I think we’re up to 3 or 4 Polistes species now? I suspect they are one of the things that keep our veggie garden generally healthy. There are nibbles, but not too many things get overwhelmed.
Wonderful!!!!!😎
Wasps rock! I have a lot of respect for them and they are so friendly if you give them space.