Little Monsters - Part V: Black Backed Paper Wasp

I was quite fortunate to find this Black Backed Paper Wasp on a chilly spring morning, it's sluggishness allowed me to get very close! As such I was able to capture great detail of the wasp's face. The strong jaws used to capture, rend and bring prey back to the nest for the larvae to consume. As well as it's enourmous compound eyes. Set on the top of the head are three small, simple eyes which aid in discerning light levels and motion detection.

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A Black Backed Paper Wasp forages in my garden.

Generally they don't bother me, and help to keep pests down, but I'm loathe to tolerate a hive built on my house.

Paper wasps get their name from the materials they make their nests from. Built of a paper-like substance formed from plant fibre and saliva they are surprisingly water resistant. Usually built in a sheltered space such as under the eaves of roofs or problematically inside AC units.

A wasp gathers building material for its house, from mine.

Building houses and foraging for food can be very thirsty work. Just like us, it's important to stop to take a drink of water to stay hydrated.

The sunlight highlighting the ridges on the thorax was a nice surpise when reviewing this picture.

While paper wasp queens over winter, the workers and drones all die off in the autumn. I'm not sure if this is a queen or a worker but this crack between two cement plates over the drainage ditch has proven to be a poor choice.

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Little Monsters - Part I: Wolf Spiders
Little Monsters - Part II: Golden Orb Weaver
Little Monsters - Part III: Lynx Spiders!
Little Monsters - Part IV: Decorator Orb Weaver

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