#1819Â - Paragia tricolor - Pollen-collecting Wasp
Photo by Phil Grobe of Bridgetown, Western Australia. He also sent video of a mass emergance by thousands of them emerging from his paddocks.Â
 These Vespid wasps nest in clayey soil, the burrows characterized by mud entrance turrets, vertical shafts and horizontal cells whose cemented earthen walls are polished and waterproofed internally. Each cell received a loose egg prior to being mass-provisioned with a loaf of pollen-nectar mixture and plugged with mud.
 The White-flowering Bloodwood Corymbia calophylla (formerly Eucalyptus calophylla) is the sole food source, and there are a lot of that large tree in bloom around Phil's paddock.Â
 Invertebrates associated with with the nests include a parasitoid wasp, in the Gasteruptiid genus Hyptiogaster (formerly Carinafoenus), and an Acarid mite, Tyrolichus casei. The mite is better known as the Cheese Mite, and also feeds on cheese, corn, flour, old honeycombs, bird collections, and smoked meats.
