What has happened to the polls?  Did we get an answer to the ant one?
More!

Dear Jean,
Reading you loud and clear!
These are really tricky if not impossible to do from photos.  There is a
Handbook produced by the Royal Entomological Society (vol6  part 5) for
cuckoo-wasps.  What would others say to a possible diagnosis as Elampus panzeri
or a species of Omalus?


--- In bwars@yahoogroups.com, "jungle4042" <jean@...> wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> I am very new to this service. I have some photos of the two wasps mentioned
above. Both were found in my conservatory in Devon in August. Is there anyone
out there who could identify them for me? Or could anyone supply a key for, at
least the Chrysid wasp. My photos seem to have got put in an album called
"Stinging Sawfly". I have no idea why!
>
> Could someone respond even if they are not able to help with ID so that I know
that I am really  communicating in the correct way with the group.
>
> Many thanks,
>

Dear All,

I am very new to this service. I have some photos of the two wasps mentioned
above. Both were found in my conservatory in Devon in August. Is there anyone
out there who could identify them for me? Or could anyone supply a key for, at
least the Chrysid wasp. My photos seem to have got put in an album called
"Stinging Sawfly". I have no idea why!

Could someone respond even if they are not able to help with ID so that I know
that I am really  communicating in the correct way with the group.

Many thanks,

Dear All,

I am very new to this service. I have some photos of the two wasps mentioned
above. Both were found in my conservatory in Devon in August. Is there anyone
out there who could identify them for me? Or could anyone supply a key for, at
least the Chrysid wasp. My photos seem to have got put in an album called
"Stinging Sawfly". I have no idea why!

Could someone respond even if they are not able to help with ID so that I know
that I am really  communicating in the correct way with the group.

Many thanks,

----- Original Message -----

From: Steve Farmer

To: bwars@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 8:59 PM

Subject: [bwars] Late autumn bumblebee activity

 

Hallo Stuart and other bumblebee watchers

The continuing very mild late autumn weather has produced some intersting bumblebee sightings recently.

At Windsor Great Park on 4 Nov there were two B.pratorum workers on Rhododendron pachysanthum. This is a very early Rhodo. and is now in full flower and completely undamaged by any frost. On 12 Nov there were two B.pratorum workers again on the same rhodo. and also a queen. All three were collecting pollen and nectar. So there is already one nest established and a queen preparing to establish another. Incidentally this is the same Rhodo, where B.pratorum workers were seen in mid-winter in two previous winters.

On 12 Nov one queen B.hypnorum was seen warming up in the sunshine on the trunk of a large Scots Pine. A couple of minutes later another B.hypnorum queen was seen collecting pollen and nectar on Rhodo. pachysanthum. She was still foraging there 90 minutes later when we returned past the same bush. As she was collecting pollen it is likely that she will attempt to establish a nest soon. This is the first time I seen B.hypnorum in November.

There are quite a lot of B.terrestis queens about - a few collecting pollen - and a few workers. There are still a few B.pascuorum workers still around but their numbers are declining.

Steve Farmer
21:00 Tuesday 17 Nov 2009
__________________________________

Hallo Stuart and other bumblebee watchers

The continuing very mild late autumn weather has produced some intersting
bumblebee sightings recently.

At Windsor Great Park on 4 Nov there were two B.pratorum workers on Rhododendron
pachysanthum.  This is a very early Rhodo. and is now in full flower and
completely undamaged by any frost.   On 12 Nov there were two B.pratorum workers
again on the same rhodo. and also a queen.  All three were collecting pollen and
nectar.  So there is already one nest established and a queen preparing to
establish another.  Incidentally this is the same Rhodo, where B.pratorum
workers were seen in mid-winter in two previous winters.

On 12 Nov one queen B.hypnorum was seen warming up in the sunshine on the trunk
of a large Scots Pine.  A couple of minutes later another B.hypnorum queen was
seen collecting pollen and nectar on Rhodo. pachysanthum.  She was still
foraging there 90 minutes later when we returned past the same bush.  As she was
collecting pollen it is likely that she will attempt to establish a nest soon. 
This is the first time I seen B.hypnorum in November.

There are quite a lot of B.terrestis queens about - a few collecting pollen -
and a few workers.  There are still a few B.pascuorum workers still around but
their numbers are declining.

Steve Farmer
21:00 Tuesday 17 Nov 2009
__________________________________

Thanks for the reply Andrew. I did not see more than one Ancistrocerus at one
time, and had the impression that the same wasp was making repeat visits. I will
try and mark the wasp next time. It unwrapped the caterpillar before taking it
(visible in one of the photos). On one occasion I disturbed the wasp while
photographing it. It released the caterpillar and did not retrieve it. I think
this is a typical response to interference and reduces the chance of being
parasitised.

Nick


--- In bwars@yahoogroups.com, "asgrace4" <asgrace4@...> wrote:
>
> Very interesting Nick,
>
>
>
> I posted a photo of an Ancistrocerus 'chewing' rolled up portions of Purple
Toadflax several years ago. I think it was A. trifasciatus but cannot find my
notes at the moment. The wasp kept visiting the same patch of this plant over
days but I could not figure out what was happening. There is a Toadflax moth and
perhaps the wasp had located a food supply. Richards' Handbook mentions small
caterpillars as prey items.
>
> Does the wasp take a caterpillar still wrapped in its' plant covering?
Presumably not.  Also, would more than one female wasp visit such a source of
provisions for their nests?
>
> Best Wishes
>
> Andrew
>

Hello all,

I know it isn't easy from photo's but can anyone confirm that Nomada in the
photo here :

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bwars/photos/album/1637505354/pic/list

is likely to be Nomada flava ?

Thanks,

Steve :-)

Very interesting Nick,



I posted a photo of an Ancistrocerus 'chewing' rolled up portions of Purple
Toadflax several years ago. I think it was A. trifasciatus but cannot find my
notes at the moment. The wasp kept visiting the same patch of this plant over
days but I could not figure out what was happening. There is a Toadflax moth and
perhaps the wasp had located a food supply. Richards' Handbook mentions small
caterpillars as prey items.

Does the wasp take a caterpillar still wrapped in its' plant covering?
Presumably not.  Also, would more than one female wasp visit such a source of
provisions for their nests?

Best Wishes

Andrew

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8354000/8354788.stm

Great footage from the BBC series Life.

Alan

I have posted three photos of Ancistrocerus sp (identified by Tim
Strudwick)taken at Weybourne North Norfolk in August. It was extracting a
caterpillar rolled up in leaves of lesser knapweed (Centaurea nigra). Before
beginning chewing the leaf-roll open the wasp paced up and down the intact
rolled leaf rapidly several times(first photo). I saw this behaviour on two
occasions on the same clump of knapweed. Can anyone inform me whether this
behaviour is a means of detecting the presence, size or orientation of the
caterpillar? It occurred to me that the same wasp was probably re-visiting the
same clump of knapweed each day. Perhaps it was assessing caterpillars at known
spots and only removing caterpillars once they had reached suitable size?

Thanks Alan

Yes it probably had been dead a while. I thought maybe D.sylvestris but the very
red clypeus confused me and I thought it might be something else. I will keep
the specimen anyway.

Thanks again

Jon

--- In bwars@yahoogroups.com, "Alan Phillips" <norwegica@...> wrote:
>
> Looks like a species of Dolichovespula, and my tentative guess would be
Dolichovespula sylvestris. The colouring is slighty strange - could it have been
dead a while?. There have been some unusually late Dolichovespula this year.
I've recorded both D. sylvestris and D. saxonica queens in the last couple of
weeks in Lincolnshire.
>
> Cheers,
> Alan
>
> --- In bwars@yahoogroups.com, "jon.mortin" <jon.mortin@> wrote:
> >
> > Can anyone tell me what this is - photos in "jon's wasps" album. I found it
dead indoors in Derbyshire last week. Doesn't match anything in my id guides.
> >
>

Hi Nico,

Thanks for the quick reply. No I did not look for eggs so it's just a guess from
the position of the bee. It stayed in this position for quite a few seconds.
Maybe it was ready to lay but could find no suitable host nest, so just dumped
it in the sand?

Nick

--- In bwars@yahoogroups.com, Nicolas Vereecken <nicovereecken@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi Nick,
>
> Have you actually observed the egg in the sand after this unusual
> behavioural sequence? Or is it just a guess from the position of the
> bee?
>
> These cuckoos generally lay eggs directly onto the brood cell of their
> Colletes hosts, sometimes between the layers of the cellophane-like
> membrane of the cells.
>
> Nico
>
> Le 10-nov.-09 à 15:54, nick.owens86 a écrit :
>
> > I photographed this cuckoo of Colletes succinctus on Kelling Heath,
> > North Norfolk in August(see photo posted). It appears to be
> > ovipositing into loose sand, which was below the nest-holes of its
> > host in a sandy bank. It was also seen inspecting and entering host
> > nest holes. I am wondering if this behaviour is typical - ie it lays
> > near potential host nest holes, then the small larva crawls into the
> > holes after hatching. Does anyone have any information about this?
> >
>

I photographed this cuckoo of Colletes succinctus on Kelling Heath, North
Norfolk in August(see photo posted). It appears to be ovipositing into loose
sand, which was below the nest-holes of its host in a sandy bank. It was also
seen inspecting and entering host nest holes. I am wondering if this behaviour
is typical - ie it lays near potential host nest holes, then the small larva
crawls into the holes after hatching. Does anyone have any information about
this?

----- Original Message -----

From: George Gilligan

To: bwars@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 10:21 AM

Subject: [bwars] Bumblebee maps - What has happened to the NBN Gateway

 

I have been trying to access the NBN Gateway since around noon 9th Nov.  It's now 10.20 am 10th Nov, & still can't access interactive distribution maps for various bumblebees.

 

The NBN site is not found at all, not even home page!!!

 

Nigel

 

Stuart,

At the moment I can't access any of the NBN sites (from my home computer), so I
guess there's a problem at their end.

Martin

--
Martin Harvey

--- In bwars@yahoogroups.com, Stuart Roberts <eucera@...> wrote:
>
> I AM having trouble accessing both the NBN home page and the maps via the
BWARS website. This may well be a problem at my end (University) but it hasn't
done this before!
>
> Puzzled
>
> -----------------------------------
>
> Stuart Roberts
> Chairman BWARS
> www.bwars.com
>

The nbn home page doesn't work for me, but going directly to the data page does:
http://data.nbn.org.uk/index_homepage/index.jsp as does going through the BWARS
site map page: http://www.bwars.com/maps_bees.htm

Alan

--- In bwars@yahoogroups.com, "George Gilligan" <gateside.gilligan@...> wrote:
>
> I have been trying to access the NBN Gateway since around noon 9th Nov.  It's
now 10.20 am 10th Nov, & still can't access interactive distribution maps for
various bumblebees.
>
> The NBN site is not found at all, not even home page!!!
>
> Nigel
>

I guess they must be having more problems...

--- In bwars@yahoogroups.com, "George Gilligan" <gateside.gilligan@...> wrote:
>
> I have been trying to access the NBN Gateway since around noon 9th Nov.  It's
now 10.20 am 10th Nov, & still can't access interactive distribution maps for
various bumblebees.
>
> The NBN site is not found at all, not even home page!!!
>
> Nigel
>

I have just received a request from Dr Steve Martin at Sheffield University who
is currently working on chemical recognition in bumblebees. If anyone can help
then please contact Steve directly at s.j.martin[@]sheffield.ac.uk

Steve writes:

Our original ms [on chemical recognition] was rejected since there was a problem
was sample size, which I have partly rectified this year. However, I am still
short of 2-3 specimens of queens of B. sylvestris, B. campestris and B.
rupestris.

Therefore, I am asking around to see if anyone has samples I can use. The best
samples would be the Dufours' gland (i.e. the sting assemblage) from frozen
queens of these species. However, the sting assemblage from dried queens will
also do. Otherwise, I can get the information from an extract from the wings of
queens. Please let me know if you have any samples I can use and we can arrange
how to move them between labs. Any help will be fully acknowledged.