Scientific Name: Delta unguiculatum. (Syn Eumenes unguiculata, D. unguiculata.) Eumenidae or Vespidae subfamily Eumeninae.
English Name: Great Potter Wasp.
French Name: Eumène unguiculé.
5 Key Characters:
Lookalikes: It is possible that beginners mistake this large species for the invasive alien Yellow-legged Asian Hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax, which is a much darker, stockier species.
Habitat: hot sunny places, even in the middle of towns.
Adult Active Period: June-July-August.
Status: We are on the very northern edge of its range here, so it is uncommon.
Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:
English Name: Great Potter Wasp.
French Name: Eumène unguiculé.
5 Key Characters:
- a large black, yellow and chestnut brown wasp (18 - 25 mm long).
- very distinct 'wasp waist'.
- first abdominal segment bell shaped (between the thorax and the rest of the abdomen).
- makes a mud nest that looks like a random dob of mortar, often with a little pot rim shaped entrance, full of paralysed moth caterpillars.
- when at rest, the tinted wings are folded across one another down the length of the body.
Lookalikes: It is possible that beginners mistake this large species for the invasive alien Yellow-legged Asian Hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax, which is a much darker, stockier species.
Habitat: hot sunny places, even in the middle of towns.
Adult Active Period: June-July-August.
Status: We are on the very northern edge of its range here, so it is uncommon.
Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:
Beautiful, we have a different kind in my part of USA. Really very gentle.
ReplyDeleteYes, not at all threatening.
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