The Bee-Wolf

This post is all about a member of the Digger Wasps family (Crabronidae), the Bee-Wolf (Philanthus triangulum). This is a solitary predator wasp and it’s prey are honey bees, hence its name.

The adult female will dig a tunnel as a nest in sandy soil and then brings its unfortunate prey back to it. The unfortnate honey bee is not in for a pretty ending, in fact the Bee-Wolf does not kill the honey bee, instead she paralyses and then lays her eggs on it. Once the laevae hatch they then have a ready made meal.

The mose surprising thing is that the honey bee prey is about the same size if not bigger than the Bee-Wolf predator, and it is a strange to behold this phenomen in flight (of which I am yet to capture).

I spent about half a day around one particular sandy mound at Blashford Lakes to get these photo’s and capture on a short video.

Here is a female Bee-Wolf that has just landed with its prey.

Here it is in the process of digging and burying its prey in its tunnel.

Next a selection of photo’s of a bee-wolf emerging from its tunnel.

and here is the video

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