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Project Noah Nature School
Diamma bicolor
Solitary metallic blue wingless wasp with orange legs. Winged wasp is possibly the male.
Feeding on Thorny box flowers (bursaria spinosa).
Sometimes found walking along the ground, this female wasp is easily mistaken for an ant. They are called flower wasps but are predatory on mole crickets.
Spotted on Jan 10, 2012
Submitted on Jan 10, 2012
8 Comments
Thanks Mark.
Some moments provide a smorgasbord of interesting creatures and an eternal memory.
Just appreciated how good this find is. :)
Here is another link showing the marked sexual dimorphism of this species of wasp. http://agspsrv34.agric.wa.gov.au/ento/im...
This wasp has no wings and is accompanied by its seldom seen (winged) male wasp.
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/111...
This thorny box is the only nectar source on a hilltop in Yarra Bend park. It is an insect magnet. The same bush attracted beetles last week http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/826... and lots of pintail beetles too. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/826...
nice pics of the wasps martinl. I also like the look of the Thorny Box tree - seems to be full of bloom.
It seems the male is hardly seen so I'm quite exited to find this. I think they were mating (pic#2) when I interfered. I was also quite surprised to find them at about 2m up in a Sweet Bursaria bush. Research reveals an alias of 'flower wasp'.
Nice set martin.
We used to see these often as kids but they seemed to vanish as suburbia was built up.