For the past few days, I've been seeing what looks like a big black wasp flying around my back yard. The only strange thing is that it has bright orange antennae.
It flies around at about waist level, and doesn't sit still long enough to photograph. It flies pretty fast, as though there's somewhere it has to be (or bee, if you're into puns!).
We saw two of them this morning.
Hi Angie. I looked in the Texas Bug Book for your wasp, but found nothing fitting that description. I am waiting for a friend to reply to my request for a particular insect link that has photos of many, many insects. Will post it as soon as I can.
In the meantime, as far as I know, ALL wasps are good bugs. Don't try to kill them.
Oh, I probably wouldn't mess with it even if it wasn't a wasp. As far as I'm concerned, if it isn't a good bug (and it isn't inside), then it's probably good bug FOOD.
Thanks for checking for me, Carolyn. I look forward to checking out that link! I have the Texas Bug Book, too, but alas that's my only insect reference. I suppose I should pony up for a more comprehensive book. Does anyone know of a really good one?
According to Howard, that darn book was supposed to be the "last word" on bug books! I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who was disappointed in it. Last summer, I found this strange critter that looked like a huge ant/wasp sort of thing vivid orange and black colors. Quite spectacular. I ran to get The Texas Bug Book off the shelf, and, of course, nothing like it in the book. Still don't know what that thing was. I tried and tried to take a photo, but the pictures never did turn out right. Maybe that's why it wasn't in the book.
Angie. Got the link. Happy searching! http://insects.tamu.edu/images/insects/common/index.htm
Hey, using the above link, I identified my "mystery" ant/wasp thing. Check out the link and take a look at the Red Velvet Ant.http://www.aqua.org/animals/species/venom/cowkiller.html
Carolyn, thanks for the link. There's LOTS of stuff there, and I'm still waiting for the wasp page to finish loading in another window. Hubby working from home today and using the ISDN line (webhog!) so I'm stuck on a modem. I miss my ISDN!
I figure if they don't have a pic of the mystery wasp, I should be able to e-mail the professor anyway. I'll let you know if I find it.
And I agree with you on the HG bug book: kind of disappointing. An electrician found brown recluse in my neighbor's attic, so I went looking for a pic to see if any of the gazillions of spiders that are roaming my house might be of the nasty kind. Couldn't tell from the pic . . . just a brown spider.
Angie !!! we have the same black/orange antennae guy here and have been wanting to know more about it too.
Also love that link Carolyn, thanks.
Was wondering if my putor was croaking when trying to load it Angie.
Larry remembers seeing the red cow killer on his grandfathers farm in central Tex
About the HG book, I have same prob as you guys with it and ... check out his line pic of a chigger and the caption below ;-)
I've never seen a gardening book without ANY flubs, which always makes me feel better when I goof something up in my writings!
Here is a link to a great photo of the brown recluse. Best pic I found.http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/hyg-fact/2000/images/2061_2.jpg
Maggie, sorry about your injuries/wounds/bites/scratches
Ooooh. . . That's a good one. There's also a good recluse pic on the TAMU site you referenced earlier: recluse pic. I never knew on which part to look for the violin, but it's pretty clear in both those pics. Fortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to see one up close!
Maggie, I'm glad I'm not the only one to see the black creature with orange antennae. . . I sent HG an e-mail yesterday but got no answer yet. This morning, I tried the entymology prof. from the TAMU website. Evidently its not "common," or we would have found a pic by now!
I had a chance to talk w/Jay from RHF at the garden show this past weekend (we missed you, Maggie!), and he said that it's a ground wasp. He's seen them too, and has observed them crawling into holes in the ground where they live.
Mystery solved!