Wasp trap - suggestions please

It is an Amyblyteles Armatorious, very common and parasite of Moths. No common name.

Clive

Re-the wasps, wasps as such do not eat and can only suck liquid even though they have mandibles. They forage for protien for the larvea who as a reward will give a drop of sweet lliquid from a gland on their rears end. This prompts the wasp to forage again.

The nest, can be in a tree or loft or shed or underground in a vacant mouse hole. They will enlarge it considerably.

Often you will see lumps of mud on your car from excavations.

Disposing of a nest, do it after dark using a torch as a shield. Allowing you to get close. Foam cans with a tube are good but slow. If done in the daytime foraging wasps come back to find the nest smell gone and they hang about for days.They are Pheromone driven. Given from the Queen. Do not use petrol and ignite as I have seen a chap lose his hair and have facial burns as the petrol blew out of the hole in the ground. Heavy volatiles like Nitro Cellulose thinners kill them but put a dustbin lid over the hole to keep the vapour in. They will not re-use an old nest but will build anew each year. Only a hibernatining fertile Queen will survive the winter.

Nice pictures Neil. Is it a special phone that has an orientation programme built in or is it an app?

Regards Ian.

I think the second one is a migrant hawker.

@ChrisB - it's a parasitic wasp of some sort. The 'Alien' of the insect world...

Neil

It's a Moto G5, a bit of a 'Dad phone'. The second picture was taken with manual focus, moving the phone to get it sharp.

Neil

One of the nice things about the G5 is the 13Mp camera - I was surprised when I recently upgraded to the G7 that it was only 12Mp. A better phone but a lower spec'ed camera.

I only upgraded because the screen on the G5 was being heat damaged near the switch.

Nick

PS: A Dad phone? - That's not what my two 20ish daughters call it...………. !

Brown ♂ and Migrant ♀ Hawkers I think.

Some quite good ID guides HERE

Bill

Edited By peak4 on 20/08/2019 13:01:09

Thanks for all advice. Wasps must have being reading this thread as numbers have dropped like a swatted insect over he past few days - probably coming to the end of their season.

Jim

They will persist until there are a few sharp frosts. Fewer, of course, because this year’s queen is not making any more (well, nearly all of them by now). Ripe fruit are a magnet for them.