# Solitary Bee & Predatory Wasps



## samak (Sep 15, 2006)

Last year, I had a few blocks of wood with 5/16 inch holes in it for japanese hornfaced bees. After they got filled up, a few holes got parasitized by some wasps. I had broken open the nesting block and found the larva of the wasp living inside. About a month ago, it was still a white larva, similar to bee larvae. Then, on May 28 this year, I looked inside the nest again and found that the larva had become a blue wasp. The only wasps I saw near the nests were yellow and black in color. Maybe it is still immature and will change color. Or maybe it is a different type of wasp than the ones I saw. Here are some pictures of it. Does anybody here know about these wasps? 

The blue bug in these pictures is a wasp, not a solitary bee.


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## MichaelW (Jun 1, 2005)

Is it in the Chrysididae Family? Thats what I would guess, looking at the diagrams. There's lots of info on Google. 

I have no experience with them or their hosts. 

Looking at my BOB book, they talk about Chalcid wasps too. Here's a guide http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/hym/chalcid.html
my book refers to Families Eulophidae and Leucospidae

There's lots of species for all 3 families, so as to which species???.......


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

This sort of predation can be stopped by covering the opening end
of the block with screen mesh, to keep the wasps out. One does
this after the tubes have been sealed and the adults are no longer
visiting the holes/tubes, in summer.

Below is a photo of what I have deployed in Central Park, along the 
East River, and in other parks in Manhattan. It is a length of 2.5 inch
PVC plumbing pipe, a dozen of the Knox Cellars 7mm tubes with the
paper inserts and the little plastic locking plugs, and a "test cap",
which slides on and stays on due to friction, so no glue is required.
(The cardboard tubes are slid out a bit, so you can see them.)

With this gizmo, the screen mesh would be duct-taped over the
open end of the tube (the end facing away from the camera).

The wire is used to attach the tube to tree branches, decorative
iron fences, whatever. The holes where the wires enter are sealed
with a dab of silicone caulk.

Since these things might be mistaken for tiny little weapons of mass
destruction, I put my cell phone number on the inside lip of the 
PVC tube, so anyone stumbling upon a tube can verify that it is not
something scary. The PVC tube is about an inch longer than the
cardboard tubes. I also have different paint jobs to better 
camouflage the tubes - black, white, concrete gray, traditional
woodland cammo, tree-branch brown, and so on.

I've got about 3 dozen of these deployed here and there, as there are
several types of solitary bees visiting flowers in the various parks, and 
they are all breeds with which I am not familiar.


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## MichaelW (Jun 1, 2005)

yea you might get some phone calls on that


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