BIG Daddy Wasp

Identification - Megascolia procer.

Clear skies and bright sunshine, so I elected for a stakeout today.

Lots of bug action. I photographed four different species of wasp, including some better shots of the same spider wasp from a few days ago. Also a few other bugs, butterflies and moths. A glimpse of the cuckoo wasp, but no shot yet again.

Today's wasp is another giant. As you can see from the bloom which is approaching half inch across, this wasp is easily 1.5 inches long, big enough to steal a chip from your plate if you are not careful.

This is a male, the female has a bright yellow head.

Very little is written about these huge wasps. A Google search mostly brings up dead wasps being sold by dealers to collectors. I can't understand the mentality of buying a specimen. Surely it doesn't count unless you collected it yourself - Ah well, whatever.

Dave