Wasp on prairie parsley
I photographed this wasp on prairie parsley (Polytaenia texana) at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on May 6th.
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Beautiful shot
ksbeth
June 24, 2018 at 4:57 AM
The native plants at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center attract lots of insects.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2018 at 7:02 AM
That’s an outstanding photo!
montucky
June 24, 2018 at 8:24 AM
I was happy to get it, given the way wasps tend to keep moving around. I took this picture of the wasp at 1/500 of a second, others as fast as 1/800.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2018 at 9:20 AM
I agree with Montucky! Fantastic shot!
Pit
June 24, 2018 at 9:22 AM
Thanks. To get more parts of the wasp in focus, I shot from a little farther away than I would have liked and then cropped the photograph to concentrate on the wasp.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2018 at 9:33 AM
Perfectly done. Thx for the explanation. 🙂
Pit
June 24, 2018 at 9:34 AM
You’re welcome.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2018 at 9:37 AM
🙂
Pit
June 24, 2018 at 9:42 AM
Great shot, nice to study the detail without getting too close to this wasp. But he’s certainly a very jazzy-looking customer. And apparently very hungry – – he’s not waiting for the flowers to open up all the way. I know we don’t have prairie parsley around here, but it resembles the wild parsnip that’s now common all around NY.
Robert Parker
June 24, 2018 at 2:01 PM
Rightly or wrongly, I never worry about getting close to wasps. My feeling is that they’re busy going about their business and I’m busy going about mine. To the best of my recollection, I’ve never gotten stung by a wasp.
The prairie parsley flowers are deceptive: the most open ones shown here are about as open as they ever get. As you pointed out, this wasp didn’t feel the need to wait for flowers to open that much.
At https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/105364.html I found that the wild parsnip you mentioned, and in which I indeed see a resemblance, is an invasive plant from Eurasia whose sap “can cause painful, localized burning and blistering of the skin.” Fortunately, Texas prairie parsley doesn’t do that.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2018 at 2:26 PM
This parsnip is everywhere upstate now. When it’s young, it looks like celery.
I leave bees and wasps to their business, and rarely have a problem, but can’t claim I’ve never been stung, usually ground nesting bees – – they’re not supposed to be very aggressive, but they seem to hate lawnmowers. For a guy that’s photographed so many flowers, that’s a serious streak of luck you’ve got going!
Robert Parker
June 24, 2018 at 2:40 PM
I’m sorry to hear about the wild parsnip invasion. Texas has similarly suffered from a different member of that botanical family, Rapistrum rugosum, known as wild mustard and bastard cabbage.
I did get stung by a bee once, but not while taking pictures. I have to hope that being caught up in photographing nature grants me immunity from wasps and bees. That’s unfortunately not the case with fire ants, which are a menace here. The most common affliction, though, is bites from chiggers, which are too small to see with the naked eye; the bites are itchy in inverse proportion to the critters’ size.
Steve Schwartzman
June 25, 2018 at 7:59 AM
Nicely done! Love the detail!
Reed Andariese
June 24, 2018 at 2:02 PM
Thanks. If I hadn’t managed to get the details I wouldn’t have shown the picture.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2018 at 2:27 PM
Okay, for future reference; You should AVOID wasps!
tonytomeo
June 24, 2018 at 3:27 PM
It sounds like you’ve had some bad experiences with wasps.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2018 at 7:51 PM
I dug into a nest with a post hole digger.
tonytomeo
June 24, 2018 at 8:57 PM
I’m sorry to hear it.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2018 at 10:15 PM
So were they. I got the worst of it though.
tonytomeo
June 24, 2018 at 10:17 PM
I love the wasp’s colors, Steve. Apparently it is very color-conscious, as it chose to land and feed on a plant that matched its apparel. 😊
tanjabrittonwriter
June 24, 2018 at 4:27 PM
Wasps of those colors and that design are pretty common here in Austin. You raise a good question about whether the wasp is choosing its plants by their colors. My apparel, now that’s another story.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2018 at 7:55 PM
🙂
tanjabrittonwriter
June 24, 2018 at 9:18 PM
Stunning, and I hope not stung in the process!
Susan Scheid
June 24, 2018 at 8:39 PM
Well said: stunning but never stung!
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2018 at 10:15 PM
Since wasps eat webworms, I am happy to see them. As long as they don’t nest too close to my door or the pathway to my door. Many years ago, my grandson and my best friend were stung as they traversed the walkway to my front door. I’ve been carefully enrolling them in the Wasp Relocation Program ever since.
Judy Baumann
June 25, 2018 at 7:22 AM
I like the way you put it: Wasp Relocation Program, or WRP. That’s much better than OUCH. And yes, wasps do keep down the webworms.
Steve Schwartzman
June 25, 2018 at 7:52 AM
Stunning macro!
norasphotos4u
June 27, 2018 at 8:12 PM
Better stunning than stung, right?
Steve Schwartzman
June 27, 2018 at 9:02 PM
Hey a Steve .. great shot. His markings look like a painter has been at work. He is shaped much like a paper wasp ..
Julie@frogpondfarm
June 28, 2018 at 2:23 PM
We call these paper wasps over here, too, from the appearance of the nests they construct:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2016/10/04/paper-wasps/
Steve Schwartzman
June 28, 2018 at 3:44 PM
I’m constantly confusing this prairie parsley with Polytaenia nuttalli. I think this parsley might be the species that’s beginning to form seeds here now, but I’m not sure.
What is sure is how wonderfully well you’ve captured the wasp; the clarity is remarkable. Last year, I finally identified a cicada killer wasp, but it disappeared from the neighborhood almost immediately. The description of its life cycle suggested it or its kin would be back this year, and sure enough, it’s shown up, hovering around in the same place. It never lands, so a photo’s going to be tough, but I’ll give it a try.
shoreacres
June 29, 2018 at 8:05 AM
I found identification of prairie parsley confusing, too. Then I looked in the compendious Shinners and Mahler’s Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas and learned that some botanists think there are two species while others believe there’s only one. As you’ve heard me say many times, I’ll always be much more a photographer than a botanist. In this case I was happy to get a few good pictures of the wasp, with the prairie parsley of secondary importance. I hope you have as good a result with your cicada killer wasp, even as I commiserate with you about an insect that doesn’t land.
Steve Schwartzman
June 29, 2018 at 8:33 AM