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Project Noah Nature School
Vespa tropica
This is a follow-up spotting to one four days ago in which a single hornet was casually eating Polistes sp. larvae with impunity, as the adult wasps stood idly by, semingly oblivious. That spotting is here http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/182... This evening's visit of the hornet was markedly different. The single hornet was vigorously tearing apart the nest cells to get at the larvae. The crunching sound of this was quite audible. The wasps still did nothing. This attack took place at near sunset. Also note the several eggs are visible in the series.
Nest on cactus (Cereus repandus) near house located in a large, semi-urban yard & garden, in close proximity to a disturbed patch of remnant lowland forest.
Photographed with flash at dusk.
Spotted on Mar 1, 2013
Submitted on Mar 1, 2013
4 Comments
Thanks drP!
Beautiful series!
Yes Sergio, I am astounded that the wasps don't do anything. And both the wasp sand hornet let me stick my lens right in their faces: no reaction!
I am following closely this series, Scott. To me, the most interesting thing is the lack of reaction from the wasps. I was stinged (three times) just because I accidentaly shaked the bamboo where they had their nest. Maybe the hornet can replicate the wasp's smell? Or it releases some pheromone? I hope you can find an answer to this mistery!