How We Can Stop Hating Wasps

Recent studies have shown that wasps are among the most loathed of all insects. Consequently, much time and money is wasted on trying to eradicate them, especially by homeowners. Let’s consider why we have the attitudes we do, and how we can achieve coexistence with wasps.

A trio of Western Yellowjakcet workers dispatches a pest caterpillar.

Why do we hate wasps?

There are three main reasons wasps evoke fear and loathing.

• The sting. Females of some species can inflict painful stings on us tender humans. This is occasionally for self-defense, but mostly in defense of a nest full of immobile and otherwise vulnerable eggs, larvae, and pupae inside a nest. Only social wasps will bother us this way.
• Narrow definition of “wasp.” Most people equate the word “wasp” with “hornet,” “yellowjacket,” or “paper wasp.” All of these are social wasps, the ones most abundant in urban and suburban settings, and by far the ones we have the most negative encounters with. Some people recognize other kinds of wasps, particularly mud daubers, but consider their nests unsightly, a nuisance, or a potential threat. In reality, the overwhelming majority of wasps are solitary, like mud daubers, each female making her own nest, or using a host animal or plant in situ. Most wasps cannot sting people. Many cannot sting at all. Most are tiny, only ten millimeters or less in length.
• Social wasps exploit our habits and weaknesses. Yellowjackets (including the Bald-faced “Hornet,” and paper wasps make their nests in and around our homes and buildings. This is because our architecture mimics the cliff faces, rock overhangs, and natural hollows where they nest “in the wild.” A few yellowjacket species are scavengers, and your barbecue or picnic resembles an abandoned animal carcass that can be exploited. The wasps take protein matter back to the nest to feed their growing larval siblings. Meanwhile, your open soda or beer container offers sugary carbohydrates the adult wasps need to fuel their flight muscles. We like to think we are masters of our domain, or at least our private property, and wasps defy that desire with maddening efficiency.

Most wasps, like this "fairyfly," are tiny, solitary, and don't sting people.

Benefits of Tolerating Wasps

Positive outcomes from tolerating wasps, or even accommodating them, far outweigh any perceived benefits of eradication or control, excepting rare cases where you or another family member has hypersensitivity to insect venom, and there is demonstrable risk of a life-threatening incident.

• Saving money on products or services. This point is seldom made when arguing against the use of DIY pest control products, or the employment of professional pest control services, but it can be of profound financial consideration. Prevention is easier and more effective. More on that in a moment.
• Wasps are a pest control service. Most social wasps, even those that scavenge occasionally, are predatory on insects that are problematic in our yards, gardens, barns, and sheds. Solitary wasps are parasitoids of even more species that can be truly pestiferous. Among the hosts for wasps are caterpillars that eat garden plants, aphids that suck plant sap, flies that can potentially spread bacteria, cockroaches both outdoors and indoors, and spiders. There is scarcely any terrestrial arthropod that is not host to at least one wasp species.
• Wasps are pollinators. Technically, most wasps are “flower visitors,” coming to blossoms for nectar to fuel their flight muscles. They still effect pollination services, and there are some species in western North America that are obligate pollinators of certain wildflowers.
• Wasps dispose of animal carcasses. Those scavenging yellowjackets make quick work of the remains of small animal carcasses that vultures and other vertebrate scavengers ignore or cannot find. This prevents the accumulation of decaying animal matter, lessens risks to human health from problematic bacteria, and prevents explosions of filth flies that would otherwise use those dead animal resources.
• Wasps are a source of fascination and intrigue. Wasps can be easily and safely observed as they go about their activities of host-seeking, flower-visiting, and nest-making. You will be surprised by how many wasp species are living in obscurity in your yard and garden. Watching them will reveal amazing relationships with many other organisms.

Paper wasp nests can be safely observed and offer hours of fascination.

How do we get along?

We can prevent most negative encounters with wasps by taking a few precautions. It will literally save you physical pain and financial discomfort.

• Learn wasp body language. Paper wasps, the ones that make uncovered paper combs under eaves, in door and window frames, and elsewhere, are usually amicable neighbors. If you do approach a nest too closely, one or more wasps will stand on tiptoe and flare their wings. This means “back off.” You risk being stung if you ignore that warning.
• Inspect your yard regularly. Too often, underground yellowjacket nests, or those above ground, hidden in shrubs or rock walls, are not discovered until the lawnmower runs over one, or the hedge trimmer triggers an attack. Inspect your property thoroughly, including playground equipment, before using tools, or otherwise causing any strong vibration in the vicinity of a social wasp nest. It may take a little patience and keen observation to note the streams of wasps coming and going regularly from a specific location. Your kids may see them before you do.
• Serve beverages outdoors in clear glass or plastic.
Unattended beverages that are sweet or fermented will attract yellowjackets and other wasps that may crawl inside the container. Cans and opaque bottles mean that you will not notice a wasp inside. A sting to the tongue or throat can be a life-threatening experience regardless of whether you are allergic to stings.
• Cover food served outdoors. When not serving yourself or others, cover meats and sweets at the outdoor gathering. You can also set out a small, exposed plate of meat a good distance away from the serving table, to draw yellowjackets away.
• Seal cracks and crevices. To prevent wasps from nesting indoors, or seeking shelter in the winter, seal cracks and crevices. Mend holes in, or replace, window screens. Screen the attic vent with fine mesh. Replace worn weatherstripping around doors. This will help save on heating and cooling costs, too.
• Learn to recognize solitary wasps. Many wasps that are solitary may behave as if they are social. A large number of wasps flying low over your lawn are likely male wasps looking for females that have yet to emerge from the ground. An ominous gathering of iridescent blue mud daubers in a door frame at dusk means that males are bedding down for the night in a large group. Male wasps do not sting. Cicada killers are huge wasps, but solitary. Females may nest close together, making them appear social. Males keep watch over them and may fly “aggressively” to chase away any and all intruders. It is all bluff.

More information about wasps can be found in this blog, in my book Wasps: The Astonishing Diversity of a Misunderstood Insect, and elsewhere. Online, the most reliable sources remain college, university, and museum websites with a “.edu” or “.org” suffix in the URL. Thank you in advance for sharing a link to this post in social media, neighborhood groups, and other outlets.

A solitary thread-waisted wasp with a caterpillar she stung into paralysis. It will be food for her single larval offspring at the bottom of an underground burrow.

Sources: Schmack, Juila M., Monika Egerer, Susan Karlebowski, Astrid E. Neumann, and Ulrike Sturm. 2024. “Overlooked and misunderstood: how urban community gardeners perceive social wasps and their ecosystem functions,” Journal of Insect Conservation.

What is, and is NOT, a Japanese Beetle

It is that time of year again in North America when everything is a Japanese Beetle. No matter whether you are a trusted and reliable expert, other people will insist that Green June Beetles, Fig Beetles, Dogbane Leaf Beetles, and various other beetles, are in fact Japanese Beetles. Why is this the case? There is much misinformation online and in the media. Family, friends, coworkers, and others present themselves as experts and make incorrect identifications. Mobile phone "apps" can also be misleading, given the relative infancy of image recognition software and deep learning, which frequently compounds errors instead of correcting them. Here is everything you need to know about how to recognize the Japanese Beetle, Popillia japonica, as well as lookalike species.

L-R: Japanese Beetle, Green June Beetle, Emerald Flower Scarab

The Japanese Beetle, as its name implies, occurs naturally in Japan and northern China. An accidental introduction of this species to New Jersey in 1916 is apparently what launched the beetle's domination of yards and gardens over most of the eastern United States and southeast Canada. It delivers a double whammy to urban and suburban areas by feeding on the roots of turf grasses in its subterranean larval (grub) stage, and on the foliage of more than three hundred (300) species of plants as an adult insect. The beetles are "skeletonizers," leaving a net-like pattern of leaf veins in the wake of their chewing. Grape and rose are among their favorites.

Typical "skeletonizing" damage by Japanese Beetle

Japanese beetles are classified as scarab beetles, in the family Scarabaeidae, subfamily Rutelinae, collectively known as the shining leaf chafers. The adults become suddenly abundant about mid-summer. They fly well, quickly dispersing themselves over the landscape. Their sheer numbers, the telltale pattern of damage they do to foliage, their size, and their behavior help to make them easy to identify with a little practice.

Japanese Beetles congregating and mating

These are smaller insects than you might expect, ranging from 8.9-11.8 millimeters in body length. That is less than half an inch. They vary in color by individual and age, but most are shining metallic green and red. The flanks of the abdomen are adorned with tufts of white hairs, a feature no other lookalike beetle has. The elytra (wing covers) are striated (have grooves), which also helps set them apart from similar beetles. The hind legs are long and stout, with sharp spurs coming from the tip of the tibial segment (think "shin"). When disturbed, Japanese beetles will flare their hind legs out and up, presenting their spiked weaponry. They can give you a good prick should you insist on seizing one.

Japanese Beetle in defensive pose

The antennae of adult Japanese Beetles are short, with a series of leaf-like plates at the tip, typical of all scarab beetles and their allies. The term for this style of antenna is "lamellate" for "plate-like." The plates are covered in receptors that are tuned to species-specific pheromones for locating others of their kind. Pheromone traps, sold commercially, work well if your goal is to draw even more Japanese Beetles to your yard or garden. Hand-picking the insects and drowning them in pails of water, with a dash of dish soap to break the surface tension, may be the best way to control them. Time consuming for certain, but highly specific to the target pest, and otherwise environmentally friendly.

Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida

The number one victim of mistaken identity in the Japanese Beetle game is far and away the innocuous Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida, another scarab beetle that is native to the United States. This insect is much larger, at 15-27 millimeters in size. It is mostly matte green with some degree of iridescence in the right light, especially on the insect's underside. It may or may not be marked with ochre trim, and lines on the wing covers. You may hear these beetles before you see them, as they fly loudly. Green June Beetles, and their relative, the Fig Beetle (Cotinis mutabilis), are classified as "flower chafers" in the subfamily Cetoniinae. They have a special hinge on each wing cover that allows the elytra to remain closed while the membranous hind wings are deployed for flight. Consequently, flower chafers bear a great resemblance to large bees while cruising around looking for food or mates. Green June Beetle feeds on flower nectar and pollen, but occasionally damages ripe fruit; and they also feed on fermenting sap from wounds on trees. This makes them a mild pest under circumstances of orchards and nurseries. As grubs, Green June Beetles feed on decomposing organic matter. You will often see females diving headlong into compost and manure heaps to lay their eggs. In nature they look for rich humus.

Emerald Flower Scarab

Another flower chafer sometimes mistaken for a Japanese Beetle is the Emerald Flower Scarab, Euphoria fulgida. This beautiful beetle measures 13.4-19.8 millimeters. It is often highly active and quicker to fly than the other beetles mentioned so far. It varies considerably in color according to both the individual and the geographic locality it lives in. Specimens from the foothills of the Front Range in Colorado, for example, are deep purple and brilliant turquoise.

Dogbane Leaf Beetle

Recently, I had a....disagreement with someone in social media about the identity of yet another beetle, the Dogbane Leaf Beetle, Chrysochus auratus. At 8-13 millimeters, it approximates the size of a Japanese Beetle. It is superficially colored the same, too, being brilliant metallic green, red, blue, bronze, or copper, depending on the angle of light hitting the creature. That is where the similarity ends. The Dogbane Leaf Beetle belongs to a completely different family, the Chrysomelidae. One look at the long, uniformly segmented antennae, tells you it is not a scarab. Its legs are not armed with spines or teeth, and it has cute, wide little feet for gripping plants. Most decisive, however, is the food preference for this species. Dogbane Leaf Beetle feeds only on....surprise....dogbane. You may occasionally encounter an individual that has alighted on some other plant in the course of trying to find a mate or another dogbane plant, but there will never be large numbers of them on anything but dogbane.

Female Tiphia wasp searching for buried scarab grubs

All manner of control strategies have been applied to the Japanese Beetle, yet here it is, still with us, in arguably greater numbers than ever, and steadily expanding its empire. We have imported the Spring Tiphia wasp, Tiphia vernalis, from China in 1925, a natural enemy. The female wasp digs up a beetle grub, stings it into temporary paralysis, lays an egg on it, and abandons it. The larval wasp that hatches feeds on the grub externally, eventually killing it. We also employ Bacillus popilliae, known better as "milky spore disease" to combat the grubs. The bacterium turns the beetle larvae a milky white color in the process of killing them, but it also affects native scarab grubs.

A large robber fly, Laphria lata, has skewered a Japanese Beetle on its proboscis

Be careful in how you control Japanese Beetles, lest you adversely impact garden allies. Assassin bugs, particularly the Wheel Bug, and robber flies, are among the chief predators of Japanese Beetles, but they need as natural a landscape as possible to proliferate and be effective controls. Invasive species are an artifact of global consumerism, and coveting thy (foreign) neighbor's flora. Resist the temptation and help prevent the next pest from gaining a foothold.

Nope, not a Japanese Beetle. Not even a beetle, but the nymph of a Green Stink Bug.

Sources: Evans, Arthur V. 2014. Beetles of Eastern North America. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 560 pp.
Ratcliffe, Brett C. 1991. The Scarab Beetles of Nebraska. Lincoln: University of Nebraska. Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum, vol. 12. 333 pp.
Berenbaum, May R. 1995. Bugs in the System: Insects and Their Impact on Human Affairs. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. 377 pp.
Fahmy, Omar. 2007. "Species Tiphia vernalis - Spring Tiphia," Bugguide.net
Eaton, Eric R. and Kenn Kaufman. 2007. Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 392 pp.

Conflicting Advice Is Killing the Rewilding Movement

All the major figures leading the modern conservation movement agree that converting your yard into wildlife-friendly habitat is the most important and impactful thing you can do to turn the tide of bird and insect decline. As for how to do that, there is precious little agreement to be had. The result is analysis paralysis, and the “lawnscape” continues to dominate urban, suburban, and even rural areas.

"No Mow May," or "No, go ahead?"

This happened to myself and my partner. We finally own a modest home in Leavenworth, Kansas, with modest yards in front and back. Our goal is to begin planting native flora, but we were confronted with opposing recommendations on how to begin. “Kill the lawn with a single application of glyphosate” says one authority. “Suffocate it” advised another party. Heck, do we even have a lawn to begin with? Sure, there is some grass, scattered among thick patches of henbit, red deadnettle, violets, dandelions, plantain, wild….garlic?

"Before" we did anything

The result is that after over a year of living here, my wife finally took the initiative to start burying a section of the yard under a layer of carboard covered in mulch. Now we wait four to six weeks….”No, it will likely take four to six months” said someone commenting on our proud social media post. Great. Next, we will hear “till once!” versus “no, don’t till at all!”

We need to stop circulating memes and sound-bite articles in the media….We want the easy fix, but it is rarely the best avenue.

I agree that one has to be patient. Nature generally operates at a snail’s pace, while we are now too eager after having flailed in the turbulent seas of “how-to” recommendations. We should know better, of course. We should learn from our previous experiences, however few.

Here comes the cardboard and mulch!

At our previous home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where we lived in a townhouse, we had about a 5x10 “yard” in the back, a tiny patio adjacent, and a shed, with a fence enclosing all of it. We planted milkweed in hopes of attracting Monarch butterflies. It was at least three years before the plant flowered. Oh, it proliferated underground, sending up shoots all over the place, but it was at year five before we found Monarch caterpillars. Garden gratification is seldom instant.

Where things stand right now....

We also put up a “bee condo,” a block of unfinished wood with holes of various diameters drilled into it. This effort did yield almost instantaneous results. Leafcutter bees and mason wasps began nesting. We also had sapygid wasps that parasitized the leafcutter bees. Neat fodder for blog posts.

Many experts now claim that bee condos are about the worst thing you can do. They attract parasites, become infested with mites and fungi, and are basically deathtraps for the very insect pollinators we are supposed to be helping. You need to replace the cardboard tubes inside the bored holes, if that is your style of bee block, or at least clean the cavities with a brush and dish soap diluted in water. I’m not sure exactly when you are supposed to do that….

Here in Kansas, bees simply nest in our siding. LOL!

Further, are we not giving bees and wasps enough credit for choosing healthy nest sites? They clean out cavities before they begin nesting anyway. Even in natural situations of old beetle borings in logs and dead, standing trees, there are always cuckoo wasps, leucospids, and others lurking, eager to parasitize the nests of other wasps, and bees. That is the way nature works.

Clover *does* feed the bees, and fixes nitrogen for other plants, but surely someone else will tell you differently....

Oh, I forgot about the dandelion controversy. Leave them, they are necessary resources for early-emerging pollinators. No, dandelion pollen and nectar has very low nutritional value. They do more harm than good. Do away with them….but, but….”No mow May!”

The bottom line is that recommendations will change based on new scientific research, and the collective experience of those gardening for wildlife. However, there is no one solution for every situation, every geographic location, every soil type, nor any other element that varies. We need to stop circulating memes and sound-bite articles in the media that claim otherwise. We most definitely need to stop the implied shaming of anyone who disagrees.

Daisy Fleabane "volunteers" in our yard and we are "weed tolerant."

We want the easy fix. It is in our human nature, but it is rarely the best avenue. Resist the impulse to jump on the latest bandwagon, and consult your state chapter of the Native Plant Society instead. Consult the list of noxious weeds for your state and eliminate any you find. Otherwise, be “weed tolerant” and see if most of those plants volunteering themselves are actually native wildflowers. Never use pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, or even fertilizers. Indeed, the soil is itself an ecosystem of microbes, and symbiotic fungi that enhance the vigor of plants.

Here at Bug Eric blog, I promise to continue sharing my own experiences, good and bad, and recommend dependable resources to further your own pursuit of biodiversity enhancement. Let me know what has worked (or not worked) for you. I will pass that along as well. Above all, please act, with whatever information you have already garnered. The inertia of inaction is the enemy of rewilding.

Don't Dig Those Dandelions?!

Many of us conduct certain rituals in our yards and gardens without questioning why; not the least of these is "weeding." We are taught to despise any plant that volunteers itself in the flowerbed or the lawn. We are conditioned to uphold certain standards, and look to the marketplace for products to help us with that. Fortunately, the tide may be changing. Take dandelions for example.

© Marc Keelan-Bishop

I was surprised and delighted to see this meme pop up in Facebook recently, daring to suggest that we should be lazy(?!) in our approach to the inevitable blooming of dandelions.

Jewel beetle, Anthaxia sp.

In my own experience, especially in the western United States, I can vouch for the fact that a startling variety of insects exploit dandelions in early spring when few other flowers are in bloom. Birders will be pleased to know that Lesser Goldfinches and House Sparrows, at the least, feed on the seeds.

Checkered Skipper

Variegated Fritillary

Painted Lady

Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, is an introduced species in North America, presumably brought here by European settlers in the 1600s as a food crop. Indeed, the Common Dandelion has much to recommend it in nutritional value, and herbal medicine. The greens can be eaten raw, while older leaves are best if cooked. You can brew dandelion wine; and the roots, when baked and ground, make a decent coffee substitute. The diuretic properties of the plant are well-known.

Andrena mining bee, © Elaine Mansfield

Sweat bee, Lasioglossum sp.

Sweat bee, Halictus sp.

Meanwhile, bees of all stripes take advantage of the dandelion's robust nectar and pollen supplies, and early-blooming schedule when few native plants are yet in flower. Indeed, dandelions bloom throughout the warmer months, filling voids in natural bloom cycles between spring, summer, and fall peaks.

Celery Looper Moth

Melipotis moth, Melipotis sp.

Our disdain for dandelions seems to be of a cosmetic nature, and a reminder that we are not the masters of Nature, even in our own backyard. Consequently, we turn to herbicides, which only compound our problems by killing other, desirable plants, and contaminating groundwater and streams, rivers, and lakes.

Cutworm Hunter wasp, Podalonia sp.

European Paper Wasp

Ironically, it has been demonstrated that even if you mow dandelions, they will "learn" to grow shorter, flowering at a height just beneath the lawnmower blades. Might as well learn to live with them. Just tell your guests that you still have a green thumb, but you are also promoting biodiversity.

Sources: Bradbury, Kate. 2015. "Let dandelions Grow. Bees, beetles, and birds need them," The Guardian.
Wunder, Michael. 2015. "City spares dandelions to help pollinators," The Waverly News (Nebraska, USA).
IDÉOmedia

Flower fly, family Syrphidae

Yellow Dung Fly, a predator

Tachinid fly, a parasite of pest caterpillars

How to Respond to an Identification Request Online

Last week I posted a "how to" article on making identification requests online. I think it is only fair to suggest how to appropriately respond to identification requests. There is much needless redundancy on threads aimed at helping someone identify a given organism. Here are some ways to avoid that, as well as saving yourself time, embarrassment and/or criticism. Actually, the best default option is often to not respond at all. So, let's start there:

Do not respond to an identification request unless....

• You know what you are talking about. There are plenty of knowledgeable amateur naturalists, Master Naturalists, and citizen scientists, as well as professional scientists, online who can help make identifications. If you do not consider yourself in one of those categories, it may be best to refrain from commenting. That way, there is no need for someone else to correct you down the line. That said, you can be a professional and still be incorrect, but at least you'll be in the ballpark.
• You have read all of the previous comments! Most redundancy in threads comes from people eager to comment who do not realize the correct answer has already been given. Facebook does not make that easy, because a long thread leads to hidden comments and generates a header that reads something like "view previous [insert random number here] comments."
• You have something truly worthwhile to add to the conversation. Anecdotal observations can be genuinely helpful, and also create a sense of community in an online group. Post away. Comments like "Burn it with fire!" or "Eew, gross!" only reveal ignorance and intolerance. Use good judgment, and understand when to deploy a filter for your "hostile voice."

Ok, what else can we do, or not do, to make an identification request more efficient and productive? Here are some ideas....

• Do *not* post another image *within* an existing thread. The addition of more images within a thread, unless the images are of the same specimen, by the same person who started the thread, creates great confusion. The internet as a whole is not always the best source of anything, let alone correctly-labeled images, even if the Google search results say so. If you want to post your own images, start a new thread.
• Include links to resources that back up your answer. There is no such thing as too much information, and most people asking for the identification of an organism know nothing about it. So, providing a link that sheds light on the life cycle, biology, and ecology of the creature is usually received warmly.
• Learn who the other players are. If you doubt the credentials of someone else making comments, look them up and see whether your (low) opinion has any basis in fact. You might find that the person is a college professor, curator at a museum, author of a book, or otherwise has vast knowledge of the subject at hand.
• Do NOT argue with others. This is why I just suggested you get to know the other players, and find out who you can trust. Word your different opinion gently ("I think it is this rather than that, because of this characteristic, behavior, etc"). That way you are being respectful, and giving more insight, too.

I may or may not have covered everything here, so please comment with your own suggestions, including what I should have omitted. I may well revise this post accordingly.

The Myth of "Good Bugs" and "Bad Bugs"

Almost every insect identification request I receive includes the same question: "Is this a good bug or a bad bug?" Ok, another frequent question is "How do I get rid of it (them)?" The concept that any particular species of any organism is inherently good or bad is a symptom of collective ignorance, and I am not sure that the entomological community has done much to counteract that logic.

Caterpillars of the Cloudless Sulphur eat Senna. Can you live with that?

A good deal of our opinions and beliefs have been biased by large scale agriculture, and the fear-mongering media coverage of economic pests. You also have "organic" advocates who promote "beneficial" species, which they often have for sale in their nurseries and other businesses. The common denominator in those instances is money. Millions, if not billions, of dollars are at stake in products ranging from household and garden pesticides to bug zappers to laboratory-reared lacewings and parasitic wasps. Don't you know that you can't live without any of this stuff?

Get behind the sales pitch and the reality is much more subtle and variable. Take the praying mantis, for example. Here in the U.S. you can purchase the egg cases (ootheca) of the European Mantis, Mantis religiosa, for your garden, despite the fact that in most areas of the country you already have one if not several native species already there.

A native mantis eats a Queen butterfly

Then there is the idea that mantids are beneficial predators. Mantids are completely indiscriminate hunters. They will eat bees and butterflies as often as grasshoppers and caterpillars. There are even well-documented incidents of larger species killing hummingbirds. Mantids still looking wonderful to you now?

Phytophagous (plant-eating) insects, on the other hand, simply must be pests, right? If so, then how come so many species have been imported from overseas to control noxious weeds? Most herbivorous insects are highly "host specific," meaning they feed on only a few, closely-related plants. Those plants have learned to co-exist with the insects that eat them. The plants produce their own chemical defenses, and even "talk" to other nearby plants to warn them of an impending infestation. Native plants are better able to withstand an onslaught because they are growing in suitable soil and climate. This also allows them to quickly recover from even the most intense defoliation.

This leaf beetle was imported to control saltcedar (Tamarix spp.)

You can also not equate your garden, yard, or woodlot to a massive farm, orchard, or forest. The reason there are pests at all is because we insist on growing large scale monocultures of various crops (and I would include tree farms in that). What self-respecting European Corn Borer is going to turn up its nose (antennae?) at acres and acres of its host plant? We set the table and then complain about our uninvited guests.

The real world of nature does not play favorites, and if you want a healthy planet Earth, let alone a garden, yard, or home, then you have to stop thinking of every species as "good" or "bad." You don't have to like every creature. Personally, I don't like mantids, but I do recognize their place in the grand scheme of things, and appreciate their existence for that reason alone.

I heartily encourage a public attitude that embraces all life forms, treats them with respect, and actively cultivates a sustainable human culture in which we can all coexist....SLAP! Sorry, there was this mosquito....

(Most) Butterflies are Not Pollinators

I hate to burst your bubble, but most butterflies are not pollinators. They are eye candy. Butterflies are best described as "flower visitors" that are there seeking nectar, a carbohydrate, to fuel their flight. They could generally care less about pollen. It may actually be a nuisance that builds up on their bodies and has to be groomed off to maintain the insect's keen senses of smell (antennae), and vision (eyes). They pollinate by accident, thanks to pollen getting trapped in body hairs. Pollen grains probably clog the proboscis, too, as that "tongue" is a complex assemblage of several tubular and sheath-like mouthparts that actively pump nectar from the flower into the butterfly's digestive tract.

Painted Lady Butterfly

To be fair, there is one class of butterflies that actually eats pollen: The Heliconiinae subfamily of the brush-footed butterflies (family Nymphalidae). These are the "longwings" that are favorites in the tropical butterfly house industry. Longwings fly rather slowly, often at eye level or lower, and have a great diversity in species. There is even strong diversity in color pattern within a single species. They make near perfect display animals in captivity. They also have greater longevity as adults because they have the capacity to ingest protein in the form of pollen.

Heliconius erato longwing butterfly

Heliconius sapho longwing butterfly

When contemplating planting a "pollinator garden," prime consideration should be given to bees, hummingbirds, moths and flies. Butterflies will be attracted regardless, but the real pollinators need to be your target. Planting native species should take priority over gaudy ornamentals that too often become invasive in the natural landscape, and/or are too demanding in terms of fertilizers, pesticides, and other artificial life-support chemistry.

Sweat bee, Lasioglossum sp., on a composite flower

Tolerate "weeds!" One man's weed is another species' wildflower. Wild composites, that is, flowers in the aster family, are greatly preferred by most insects because they can visit more than one flower at one stop, reducing energy expenditures from flying blossom to far-flung blossom; and the flat surface of composites affords them a greater field of vision to watch for approaching predators. Few insects want to literally dive head-first into tubular flowers, though many bees do so all the time, and I have seen sulphur and swallowtail butterflies do so.

Black Swallowtail caterpillars do eat fennel, dill, anise, and parsley

Tolerate caterpillars! Many people fail to see the link between the butterflies (and colorful moths) they love, and the larvae they loathe. You cannot have one without the other! Planting host plants for caterpillars will arguably do more to attract butterflies to your garden than planting nectar-rich flowers. Remember, too, that plants have their own built-in chemical defenses to protect themselves; and even if defoliated, they can recover. A complete garden ecosystem with all its checks and balances in the form of herbivores, predators, parasites, fungi, soil fauna, and other organisms, is far less expensive to maintain than one that is micro-managed with pesticides and herbicides. Save time and money by choosing the right plants initially, and learning from reputable, unbiased sources what insect species are truly harmful and which are ones you can live with, if not encourage.

Leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.) will nest in holes drilled in wood blocks

Think native bees. The apiculture (honey bee) industry is a powerful lobby, and has largely convinced the general population that honey bees are the *only* bees. The overwhelming majority of bee species are native, and solitary or semi-social in their habits. Agriculture needs honey bees, no question. Your garden, and wild habitats, do not. Consider putting up bee boxes for housing our native, solitary bees. Their traditional nesting sites are being plowed under, paved over, and cut down at such a rate that they can use artificial homes.

Bundles of hollow twigs attract solitary bees that nest inside them

Lastly, I will say this for the Monarch butterfly. They are large insects, powerful enough to effectively pollinate milkweeds. Milkweeds package their pollen in sticky bags that are not easily dislodged from the flower. You can usually find bees, flies, and other insects that have become mortally stuck to milkweed flowers, unable to extricate themselves. Large wasps, large bees, and large butterflies are among the few insects able to effect the pollination of milkweeds. Learning which insects effectively pollinate which plants is also key to making your own garden or yard a "pollinator paradise."

Monarch Butterfly

Wasp Wednesday: Blue-winged Wasp

One of the most common solitary wasps of late summer and fall is a member of the family Scoliidae known as the “Blue-winged Wasp,” Scolia dubia. This is a fairly large insect, 20-25 millimeters in length, and easily identified by its bi-colored abdomen: Black on the upper half and red on the bottom half, with two bright yellow spots in the red area. There is rarely any variation in that color scheme, either. The common name stems from the brilliant blue highlights in the black wings that shine when sunlight hits them just right.

Scolia dubia is also a widespread species, found from Massachusetts to Florida, and west to Colorado, Arizona, and southern California. I have found them in New Jersey, Ohio, and Colorado. They are parasites of the grubs of scarab beetles, particularly the Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida, and Japanese Beetles, Popilla japonica. Since Colorado has neither of these species, the Blue-winged Wasp must exploit a different host here. We certainly have plenty of May beetles (genus Phyllophaga), and the Bumble Flower Beetle (Euphoria inda), so I suspect those are the local hosts here in Colorado Springs.

The female wasp somehow divines the presence of beetle grubs underground while flying low over the surface of the soil in what approximates a figure-eight pattern. When she detects one, she lands, and sets about unearthing it. Scoliid wasps have strong legs that are heavily spined. This adaptation facilitates their digging activities.

An exposed scarab grub will writhe around and seek to rebury itself immediately. The wasp stings the larva to paralyze it and allow her to manipulate it. She may leave the grub in situ, or tunnel below it, excavating a small chamber where she deposits the beetle larva and lays an egg on it, perpendicular its body. She then seals the chamber and leaves to start the process all over again, often staying underground and digging her way to the next grub.

Interestingly, these wasps may sting several grubs without laying eggs on them. The paralysis of the beetle larva is usually permanent, so regardless of whether they become food for larval wasps, the beetle grubs are unable to complete their own life cycle. This is a good thing if you happen to have an infestation of “white grubs” in your lawn or garden.

Back to the egg on the beetle grub, though. The wasp larva that hatches feeds as an external parasite on the grub for one or two weeks before spinning a silken cocoon around itself. There it will remain as a pre-pupa for the winter, pupating the following summer and eventually emerging as an adult wasp.

Male and female scoliid wasps commonly visit flowers to feed on nectar (and perhaps pollen). I find them most often on White Sweet Clover, Melilotus alba, thoroughworts (genus Eupatorium), and goldenrod (Solidago spp.). Males can be identified by their long antennae and overall more slender appearance. Males have a distinctive, three-pronged “pseudostinger” that is part of their external genitalia. Males cannot sting, and females are loathe to sting unless physically molested.

Another interesting aspect of the males is their behavior. Males also fly near the ground in a sinuous pattern, hoping to detect virgin females emerging from the ground. This usually happens in the morning, and males abandon their searching by late afternoon. At that time, they may gather together to roost for the night on vegetation, as the image below depicts.

© Tim Moyer via Bugguide.net

Keep an eye out for the Blue-winged Wasp in your own yard. Remember they are beneficial, but beware that large numbers of them may indicate you have a serious problem with white grubs.

Sources: Grissell, Edward E. 2007. “Scoliid Wasps of Florida, Campsomeris, Scolia, and Trielis spp. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Scoliidae),” Featured Creatures, document EENY-409, Entomology and Nematology Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), University of Florida.
Rau, Phil and Nellie. 1918. Wasp Studies Afield. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 372 pp (Dover Edition).