Wasp with fly

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:59 pm

A wasp with some fresh fly meat (a biting Horse fly). I think I stepped on the wasps` hole walking on the lawn. She could not find the hole right away. Also another fly was wondering "whats going on here?" Photos taken back in August.

JoanYoung · Post by **JoanYoung** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 6:54 pm

These pics tell a great story Doug!

Thanks for sharing.

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:53 am

Well I didn't know that! I'm assuming that the wasp attacked and killed the fly as the other alternatives are pretty unlikely:

(1) Wasp found it lying dead outside it's nest.
(2) Wasp stole it from a nearby spiders web.
(2) The fly gave itself up.

So what do you reckon Doug is the fly going to be eaten by the wasp, used as an incubator for it's eggs or stored as a future food supply for the wasp's grub?

Very interesting series of pics.

Bruce

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:27 pm

My guess is that the wasp is a solitary species and the paralyzed fly is used for food for the larvae like the spider wasps. There were holes all over the place in the sandy lawn. When it would rain, you could see the lone wasp near the entrance looking out.

Gordon C. Snelling · Post by **Gordon C. Snelling** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:03 pm

Great shots, the fly appears to be a Tabanid or "Horse fly". It will be used as food for the larvae. Not sure ont he wasp Ident though.