Ammophila nigricans or Ammophilia pictipennis? I have no clue. Both interesting names though.
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note of any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
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The female wasps digs an angled burrow with a horizontal chamber at the bottom. She then goes off to find a caterpillar, usually an underwing moth or zale moth. The caterpillar is paralyzed and placed in the nest, then the wasp lays her egg on the caterpillar and closes up the burrow.
While closing the nest, the wasp picks up a pebble in her mandibles and pounds the substrate with it, thereby compacting and settling the soil that was used to fill the nest.
"Tool-use" by a digger wasp was first described by Williston (1892) and Peckham and Peckham (1898). They observed this remarkable behavior in two species of ground-nesting wasps, Ammophila urnaria and Ammophila aberii.
Phyche
I have no idea why they keep their abdomens up in the air like that but it was interesting to watch.
Just threw this together since I didn't see a bucket up.
Your turn to toss something in the bucket.
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