Field Digger Wasp_Mellinus arvensis

Photographed on the Sunday 06 October 2013.
This image of a digger wasp was taken in our back garden where it was hunting for its prey which usually consist of various flies. They tend to nest in our front garden and we get them every year around about August time.
Field digger wasps (Mellinus arvensis) are solitary wasps that belong to the class Insecta, Order Hymenoptera, Family Sphecidae and Genus Mellinus. Digger wasps have over 110 species In GB
And as the name suggests they burrow in the ground when nesting. They prefer light sandy soils such as we have here in the Merseyside district. As they emerge they tend to leave what looks like mini volcano shaped mounds of sandy soil. The sting is not used as a defence like social wasps but is instead used to paralyse their prey (in this case flies) which they leave with their eggs, which on hatching into larvae feed on the single source of food supply and the female then restocks as the larvae grow and develops. Eventually the larvae pupate and emerge as adults. The effort put into digging burrows is energy costly for the wasp, however, the benefit is providing a stable environment for the young i.e. in day the surface soil can heat up quite a lot and at night become quite cold. In the burrow deeper into the soil horizon, the temperature fluctuates much less thus providing a more stable environment for the young hatchlings.

More information can be found here:
http://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/field-digger-wasp
http://www.bwars.com/content/beginners-bees-wasps-mellinus-arvensis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellinus_arvensis
https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs-and-habitats/digger-wasps

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From Wildlife: Wasps