Meadowsweet Trilogy, Part 2 - Bees, Wasps, Ants, and Sawflies

At full bloom and fragrance, the panicles of White Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba) attract a varied host of pollinators around the open terrain of Halibut Point. Individual flowers measure about a quarter of an inch across.

(Left) Northern Paper Wasp
(Top Center) Andrenid Bee
(Bottom Center) Tumbling Flower Beetle
(Right) Argid Sawfly

The most noticeable pollinators are bees, wasps, ants, and sawflies comprising the taxonomic order Hymenoptera (from the Greek 'membrane' + 'wings'). Unlike other insects, they all have four flight wings with the hind wings connected to the forewings by a series of hooks.

A worker ant foraging in White Meadowsweet

Ants that visit the meadowsweet flowers are sterile, flightless female workers. Winged male drones and queens leave the nesting chambers only at mating time in preparation for swarming to a new colony.

A braconid wasp with a long ovipositor

Although some adult wasps feed on flower nectar they are not nearly as important as bees in the pollination of flowers. Many hunt and paralyze insect prey as a source of food for their young that develop from eggs inserted with the ovipositor.

Beewolf Philanthus gibbosus, Crabronidae

The beewolf is named for its predation practices. Adults eat nectar but capture other insects to feed to their young in nesting burrows underground. This species of wasp lays its eggs on bees that it paralyzes and coats in a layer of pollen to supply the emergent larvae with nutrients. Other insects scatter when a beewolf forages on meadowsweet.

Cerceris wasp, Crabronidae

The typical wasp's smooth-skinned, aerodynamic, constricted-waist form is well suited to its hunting lifestyle. Wasps of the taxonomic family Crabronidae are thought to be the ancestors of bees, which do not need such streamlined features and exacting maneuverability in making the rounds from flower to flower. Many wasps exhibit striking coloration patterns as a warning to potential predators of their stinging ability.

Cuckoo Wasp, Chrysididae

Wasps lack pollen-gathering hairs on their bodies, although some species are able to transport pollen effectively by other means. Cuckoo wasps, like birds of the same name, deposit their eggs in the nests of other species of their own kind.

Augochlora pura, Pure Green-Sweat Bee, Halictidae

This halictid bee probably draws some protection from its resemblance to the cuckoo wasp. Notice its somewhat plumper shape and distinctly furry appearance.

Halictus legatus, Sweat Bee, Halictidae

This species of halictid bee exhibits another pattern of wasp-like coloration. It collects pollen that clings to its covering of branched, feather-like hairs.

Apis mellifera, Honey Bee, Apidae

Carnivorous wasps are capable of stinging multiple times in self-defense or predation. Their stingers are not barbed like those of a bee. A honey bee stings only as a last resort and loses its life in the process as the stinger is torn from its body to keep pumping venom into the target.

Sawfly, Argidae

Sawflies, close relatives of wasps, bees, and ants, have a broad connection between abdomen and thorax rather than a narrow waist.

Another sawfly, Argidae

The great majority of sawflies are soft-bodied plant-eating insects with a stubby appearance, that fly weakly. Their life expectancy as adults is only 7-9 days. They live much longer in their larval stage as caterpillars with a reputation for destructive appetites on trees and shrubs. 

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I'm happy to report that I've never been chewed, bitten or stung in pursuit of these portraits.