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Project Noah Nature School
Monobia quadridens
Large black wasp with bold yellowish-white markings. Adult takes nectar at flowers and usually nests in wood borings, but sometimes burrows in dirt banks. Sometimes takes over abandoned nests of carpenter bees or ground bees, also Sceliphron (mud dauber) cells. Nest is provisioned with caterpillars, and cells of nest are separated by mud partitions. (information from BugGuide)
City park
This wasp was observed going underneath part of a wooden fence so I took a peek to see what it was doing. I noticed a small hole that it had approached, so I got down on the sidewalk and took some photos. It was a TOUGH photo shoot, for sure! (now that I'm 40) I saw another wasp buzzing around but never got a shot of them together. My guess is they are utilizing an old carpenter bee hole that was from last year or that was abandoned.
Spotted on Jul 7, 2013
Submitted on Jul 20, 2013
2 Comments
Thanks for the kind words and the dietary tip. My biggest problem is I'm taller than average and I spend a lot of time down on the ground or on my knee(s). It's getting harder every day to get up from there. ;-)
Very nice wasp and information! And since you mentioned an age related thing in the text, dont forget to eat more spinach so you can do the same "though photo shoots" when you are 50 :D