Ants and Wasps

As I worked around our back yard, I figured it was time to check on and clean out one of the bird boxes on our property. The Carolina wrens will build several nests inside cavities until the “perfect” location is found. At that time, the others are abandoned. I generally wait for a time until I’m sure that this nest will not be used and then I clean out the box for the next prospective tenants. When I removed the nesting material, I was surprised to find a colony of ants had decided that the location that was not suitable for the wrens was just right for them.

Odorous house ants

Odorous house ants are small, brown to black insects commonly found in homes across the United States. They get their name from the distinctive coconut-like smell they emit when crushed. These ants are known for forming large colonies and often invade kitchens and other areas in search of food, particularly sweet substances. While they do not cause structural damage like carpenter ants, they can contaminate food and become a persistent nuisance. These ants were busy tending to their eggs larvae, and pupae.

I did not want to kill the ants and I did not want to contaminate the nest box with insecticide, so I simply left the clean out panel open thinking that might discourage the ants from further nesting. To my surprise, when I checked the box the next morning, the entire colony along with every egg, larva and pupa was gone. The colony had completely evacuated the box, leaving no trace that they had ever been there. Where they went, I have no idea. Hopefully they don’t show up in our house!

After checking on the ant colony, I decided to make a run up to Morgan’s Farm and see if any new species were hanging around the pond for today’s observations. The variety of bees & wasps never ceases to amaze me and today I found a few more at the pond. First was a beautiful golden colored individual known as the Great golden digger wasp.

Great golden digger wasp

The great golden digger wasp is a striking insect known for its metallic blue-black body and bright orange legs. It is a solitary wasp that hunts and paralyzes grasshoppers and other insects to provision its underground nests. These wasps dig burrows in sandy or loose soil, where they lay eggs on the immobilized prey, providing food for their developing larvae. Despite their intimidating appearance, great golden digger wasps are generally non-aggressive toward humans. The loose sandy soil around this pond’s edge and the abundance of grasshoppers makes this the ideal habitat for this wasp.

Caolina grasshopper

Now I do not profess to know what the image of a Carolina grasshopper looks like through the eyes of the digger wasp, but from a human point of view, they tend to blend in almost perfectly with the habitat in which I located them. This grasshopper against a granite boulder upon which it perched was ideally camouflaged as seen in the image above. In spite of the fact that a Carolina grasshopper grows to about 2” in length and the wasp is typically only 1 ” long, the wasp is capable of flying with or dragging the larger grasshopper to its nest after stinging and paralyzing it. The Carolina grasshopper is actually one of the preferred prey of the Great golden digger wasp! It will drag the paralyzed grasshopper down into its burrow and then lay its eggs in the grasshopper body. The larva will feed upon the body of the grasshopper once hatched.

Four-banded stink bug wasp

The Four-banded stink bug wasp (Scolia dubia) is another solitary wasp known for its distinctive black wings with four pale bands, making it easily identifiable. This species plays an important role in controlling stink bug populations. In a similar fashion to the Great golden digger wasp, the female Four-banded stink bug wasp parasitizes the larvae of the stink bugs and then flies back to the underground nest to provision the nest with food for her larvae. Upon hatching, the wasp larvae consume the host, effectively reducing stink bug damage to crops and gardens. Typically active during the warmer months, the four-banded stink bug wasp is harmless to humans and beneficial for natural pest management.

And so it is pretty obvious that it is better to be a wasp than a grasshopper or stinkbug. As Steve Irwin used to say, “Eh, it’s a jungle out there!”

For a short video on the behavior of the “Great golden digger wasps”, click on the button below.