That is weird, Roselee. I wonder why the odd shape?

Pam

The nest is in an abelia shrub that's very close to the corner of the house. I have a very narrow trail between the house and the bush and have evidently brushed past them all summer, but I never noticed the nest. For one thing the foliage was really too thick to see them and they probably built it to conform to the space they had.

The bush has lost a lot of leaves since we haven't had rain for awhile and when I reached over to break off a couple of dead looking stems a couple of the wasps gave me a little prick on the hand. The interesting thing is they never inject much poison -- evidently because they know me. It doesn't even hurt or swell when they sting me, but if Bob accidently gets near a nest he gets the full dose. I think it is because they don't know him. He just mows the grass and stuff, and is not out there as much as I am.

I read in a science magazine that they recogize each other by face markings so I figure they learn to recognize me too. I call them my friendly wasps.

wow, I agree, strangest looking one I EVER saw.

What! are feeding those wasps? Fermented nectar? ;)

Yeah ... the secret is to get them drunk ;-) LOL

As you probably know when they are not inebriated they eat caterpillars -- good for the gardener unless you are trying to raise butterflies, that is.

I read in the Texas Bug Book, Malcolm Beck had a story in there about how smart wasps really are. They learn quickly that when you open the webbing of fall army worms or the spring tent caterpillars that there is food inside and will remember what to do each time they see one torn open.

Yes, I read that too. Wasps are acknowledged to be the genuises of the insect world.

Insects in general are not as stupid as we once thought. There was an article in a prestigious science magazine saying that although insects had a lot fewer brain cells than vertebrates, researchers were finding that their brain cells were were larger and much more intricate. They had long extensions that connected more thoroughly to other cells. The reseachers concluded they have a form of consciousness, primative compared to ours of course, but consciousness nontheless. Pretty interesting.

I wonder if they could be a different species of wasp? VERY interesting (no German accent)
; - )
J.D.

You don't live near an atomic reactor, do you?
Jim

J.D., I definitely detect a German accent in that comment!

Well Jim, do you think living near an atomic reactor might make me tall and slim? In that case I'd like to vote for the installation of that facility in my neighborhood ;-)

Bees will build odd shaped hives when there is a magnetic distubance in close proximity to their nest.

Don't know if wasps are affected in the same way, though.

Kt

The nest is about 15 feet from the box that houses the apparatus for the electric fence that keeps the deer out of the front flower bed. Okay electrical engineers -- QUESTION: -- would that cause a "magnetic disturbance"?

I don't think that the electric fence box would have enough energy at that distance to affect the magnetic aether, but I guess it could be possible.

A few years ago, I found a yellow jacket nest on an elecric fence charger terminal itself, and the nest was 'normal' looking.

It will be interesting to see if you find any nests similar looking in the area next year.

Bees, butterflies, birds, and many other animals, supposedly use magnetic fields to find their way around. Bees for flowers, butterflies and birds for migration.

Could just be the wasp in charge, who probably flunked out of architectural college or maybe engineering school...

"Could just be the wasp in charge, who probably flunked out of architectural college or maybe engineering school..."

Laughing .... !

THE CONDOMENIUM SKYSCRAPER OF THE WASP WORLD.
kinda neat don't ya think.
Roselee they have adopted you into the wasp family.
Too Funny
Debbie

Yes Debbie ... I think so ... on all counts :-)

No, Roselee. If they had a conscious, they would not be such cannibals--inside every one of those honeycombs is a little worm (larvae). I know since my Granddaughter and I discected a cell once. They lay an egg in that cell and go about mincing up and feeding various other inscect larvae to it (a big brown mouth) and eventually out crawls a wet wasp that is recognizable to them. i would venture to say that if a wasp larvae got loose, it would end up as "baby food". Why are you messing with them when they are stinging you? signed, The Nasty Garden Gnome

Predator and prey. Yes I know life seems so cruel sometimes, but all life is involved in the game of predator and prey. One can't be without the other it seems.

Wolves were introduced into Yellowstone park to keep the bison and elk herds strong and healthy. Wolves prey on the weak and degenerate so they don't carry those traits on to the next generation.

Wasps are here to keep the caterpillars under control. If all the caterpillars lived they would eat all our plants to nubs. Malcolm Beck tells the story of the boy, who while spending the summer with an uncle who raised pecan trees for their nuts, took his slingshot and for sport knocked all the wasp nests down. The next year and for years after caterpillars covered the pecan trees and prevented a good crop until the wasps were able to build their numbers back up.

Even the prey are predators -- they eat plants. Plants have their own defense by producing toxins to deter the animals and insects that eat them. Underground the roots of plants fight each other for dominance.

We work in our gardens tearing out the plants/weeds we don't want and go inside and have a chicken sandwich for lunch. We are all just doing the best we can to stay alive and enjoy life. And so it goes in this seeming world ...

Happy gardening! :-)

You are right, Roselee. It is sort of like the "termite/marching ant" symbiosis we saw on PBS Nova. (Which reminds me -- I wonder if our fireants attack and destroy termites?) Anyway, wasps never affected me one way or another until we discovered "where they come from"-- all those squishy "worms". It was a surprise nature lesson for me more than my Granddaughter!

You saw that program too! It was interesting. Yes, I've read where fireants will attack termites and you won't have any fleas and ticks around either. I haven't kept up with the latest on it, but an accidentally imported Formasa termite is eating the south I hear. I wonder if the fireants might be making a dent in them. Maybe they need that African grandfather to come over and show them how it is done! LOL

Speaking of eating the south -- the imported Kudzu vine "the vine that ate the south" also has its natural control -- a certain caterpillar, but it also eats soy beans so the soy bean farmers won't allow it to be imported.

Fireants have their predators too. There is a certain fly that preys ONLY on fireants in Argentina, the native habitat of fireants, and that's what keeps them under control there. I watched a TV program last year on how they are breeding the fly in U.S. labs to help combat the fireants. They were afraid the fly was more cold sensitive than the fireant, but on the first trials the fly did survive the winter in the area in which they were released. Another problem was keeping the ranchers from poisoning the fireants and the fly along with it. So they invited several big ranchers to the lab to demonstrate how devastating the the fly was to the fireant and the ranchers were convinced and allowed trials to be held on their ranches. This was a couple of years ago and I don't know how that's coming along.

Yes, many insects have a larva (worm) stage they go through. You have to give the social insects, like bees, termites, and wasps, a little credit for the long term care they give to their little ones -- even though their face is one only a mother could love. :-)

Happy gardening -- insects and all!

Global Warming Nest? Perhaps it is an innovative design because it has been so hot that they built this nest so that each one could have a breezy window. Now everyone is going to want one like it!
Min