Items related to Solitary Wasps: No. 3 (Naturalists' Handbook)
Smaller, gentler and less intimidating than the black and yellow social wasps, the solitary wasps are attractive because of their bright colours and their fascinating behaviour. A female wasp will construct a nest, excavating it from wood or sand or building it from mud. She provisions the nest with prey, hunting down a suitable creature, perhaps a caterpillar or a fly, which she will paralyse before dragging it home to the nest. She lays her egg on the paralysed prey, and the larva when it hatches feeds on the prey. On a sunny day it is easy to observe the apparently purposeful behaviour of female wasps as they prepare their nests and stock them with food for the next generation.
New discoveries are made every year about the distribution and behaviour of British solitary wasps. This book offers ideas for investigations and describes techniques. It includes identification keys to the British species, together with a one page field guide and a guessing guide based on colour, prey type and nest type, to help wasp-watchers to identify their insects without killing them.
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About the Author:
Sarah A Corbet has taught entomology and ecology in London University and the University of Cambridge. Her research interest is in pollination ecology, with a special focus on bumblebees.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherRichmond Publishing Co Ltd
- Publication date1999
- ISBN 10 0855462965
- ISBN 13 9780855462963
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number2
- Number of pages76
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