While walking, I came across this huge, beneficial wasp. It pollinates a wide variety of flowers and keeps beetle populations in check.
It has no moniker. However, I’m nicknaming it the Lighthouse Wasp, since it flashes yellow beacons as it feeds.
Below is a one-minute video with additional pictures and information.
Video Transcript:
I noticed this wasp along a Florida roadway. It’s Campsomeris quadrimaculata.
Although this female is over an inch and a half in length, she’s non-aggressive, stinging only if threatened. She feeds on a variety of flowers, and must eat before laying her eggs.
When she is ready, she flies low to the ground, searching for buried scarab beetle larvae. When she locates a larva, she digs into the soil, stings it, and deposits an egg on its body.
As her own youngster grows, it devours its host. When the meal is finished, it wraps itself in a cocoon and waits until spring or summer. It then sheds its blanket and emerges from the earth ready to mate.
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