Late summer visitors

As hot summer days stretch into August, we have fewer flowers blooming in the butterfly garden. 19 days over 100 degrees have taken a toll on even the drought tolerant native plants. The Turks Cap, Mexican Oregano, Desert Willow, Salvia , Purple Lantana, and Russian Sage still have flowers, as does a volunteer bright yellow wildflower that fills in the spaces, and attracts some interesting wasps. Pretty sure the wasps I'm seeing are Scolid Wasps, which my Kaufman Field Guide says are "large , usually hairy wasps that are parasitic on the larvae of scarab beetles". As it happens, Dung Beetles are common here, so I am guessing the Scolids are feeding on their larvae. Kaufman also says that Scolid species are late summer visitors to flowers. Last night, I watched what seems to be a striking yellow and black striped Feather -legged Scolid Wasp feeding on bright yellow wildflowers at sunset.
Another interesting wasp turned up floating in our small pool. I fished it out, and photographed it as it climbed around on my net. It appears to be a Tiphid Wasp- another parasite on beetle larvae. Not sure if it is a male with a "pseudostinger" (at the tip of the abdomen) or a female with a real stinger. Luckily it wasn't interested in stinging me, and flew away. Only seems fair, since I had just rescued it!

Posted on 05 August, 2018 02:44 by loblolly