Eastern Yellowjacket - Vespula maculifrons
Talk about a blast from the past with these images! In this blog's earlier days, video posts were uploaded to the blog that showcased these hungry Wasps who were dining on freshly caught insect meat. At the time, I was quite happy to feature these examples of insect behavior, but something was brought to my attention as a result of those video being uploaded to YouTube. A helpful watcher left a comment inquiring as to what exactly the Wasp was eating and that a better angle would help. They were absolutely correct! While I had no further videos to share from that day, I did have these images. And so, I hope these pictures can provide a better view of the Wasps' feast on the carcass of a freshly molted Dog-Day Cicada. The head was missing, leading me to believe that the Cicada was decapitated from above, near its exuvia, leading to the head and body landing in two different locations. Genuinely, it was the perfect time to strike since the freshly molted imago hadn't had time to sclerotize and solidify itself. Cicada landed on its back, causing the legs (the ones that haven't yet been harvested) to point up or to the side.
The primary feeding documented in these pictures is the carving up of thorax's innards and biting of the exposed abdomen as the Eastern Yellowjackets dive in for a bite! The Cicada's 4 wings - which weren't even given the change to unfold and inflate - appear in their wavy forms with a faded white-to-green color accentuated by the deep-green of the wing's primary vein. It sounds cruel, but this is the way of things, and Wasps need to nourish their nest's larvae so that they in turn are nourished. Although many Vespula Wasps are often feared due to their ability to painfully bite and sting, their persistence, their attraction to humans (and their food), and their warning stripes (of course), it's always worth remembering that these insects have an important part to play within their ecosystem beyond annoying humans out in the wilderness and stinging for seemingly no reason. The many Yellowjackets of North America are experts at managing pest insect populations to feed the larvae within their nest. Furthermore, they provide valuable assistance as generalist flower pollinators alongside other flying insects. The problems come in when their aggression or feeding instincts surge into overdrive as a result of a nest defense or the seasons changing. Even I'm afraid of Yellowjackets and their propensity to swarm, but that more I learn about them, the less there is to fear. Having that said, it can be absolutely maddening to accidentally stumble on a ground nest and face the wrath of the colony!
Pictures were taken on July 29, 2018 with a Samsung Galaxy S4. And of course, as the striped workers take what they can carry for the nest, numerous Pavement Ants arrive to collect their fill too. Although many times smaller than this Wasp specie, a Yellowjacket would do well to avoid Pavement Ants given how suddenly they can climb, swarm and pinch apart matter with their mandibles!
