One for the entomologists

[silentC]

I was watching a wasp buzzing around the handle of a push bike in the room next to my office. I was curious about what it was doing so I went over. The hand grip has a small hole about 4mm in diameter in the end. The wasp had hold of a spider and it was struggling with it. I assumed the spider had made its home in the hole and the wasp had caught it and was planning to take it home for tea. I watched the struggle for awhile and eventually the wasp flew off holding the spider.

About half an hour later, it caught my attention again and I went over to see what was going on. It was exactly the same scenario. What seemed to be happening was that the wasp was actually trying to stuff the spider into the hole. It would get it's head in there (the spider was past objecting) but it would get it in up to the abdomen and then pull it out and start again. I watched it for awhile until it seemed to notice me and it dropped the spider on the ground, flew off and banged into the window a couple of times, then found the opening and disappeared.

So what was it trying to do?

[woodbe]

Probably a mud wasp or relative.

The usually build a nest from mud, lay their egg in there, and before they close the entrance, they catch a spider, anaethetise him, and stick him inside for the baby wasps first meal...

They're good wasps. It's the 'social' wasps like the euro and paper wasps you need to watch out for.

woodbe.

[TassieKiwi]

Commonly known as a mason bee, tho' it's a wasp I reckon. They paralyse insects, mostly daddy long-legs spiders, and jam them in a wee hole somewhere, usually sealed in compartmants made of mud. They lay an egg, which grows into a larvae and eats the insects - dead or alive. Nice.

[silentC]

I thought it might be something like that. We've got the type that builds the hanging nest all over the place but this one is smaller and all black.

I think the problem was that the spider was too fat for the hole. Maybe it'll come back with something a bit smaller...

[Wood Borer]

Used my drill the other day and found mud and spider missiles all over the bench after bouncing off me. Fascinating and hard working little creatures.

[DJ’s Timber]

They love blocking the exhaust holes on your brush cutters too. Have been caught out a few times trying to get the bloody thing going and after cursing and kicking the stupid thing, you then remember to check the exhaust pipe. Normally have to pull the muffler off and give it a good clean out.

[Flowboy]

You can tell yer bees from yer wasps by the number of wings they have. Bees have four, wasps have two.
Tassie, the victim placed in the nesting chamber must be alive when the egg hatches as the larvae won't eat dead meat, so they are actually paralyzed. Which raises the question, does the spider then see the grub hatching but can't do anything about catching it and thus reach its slow end in a state of arachniconfusion?

[Barry_White]

Up here we have both wasps and hornets. The hornets are fairly large black and orange and their legs hang down like an undercarriage. They build large mud nests full of spiders. They are amazing how fast they can build them.

What then happens the large lazy black wasps come and steal the spiders out of the mud nests and take them away.

Those little wasps we call Keyhole wasps because they fill the old style keyholes up and any other little hole they can find.

I have an air hose outlet on an outside wall on the shed to plug the compressor into and last year I forgot to put the golf tee back in after using it and the next time I went use it, it was filled with hard mud and had to pull the whole fitting out of the wall to clean it out.

[Metal Head]

Garbage man dies from bee sting

A garbage collector from NSW's Riverina area who died after being stung by a bee was allergic to bee venom, it has emerged. But even for someone with such an allergy, his chances of dying from a bee sting were remote, statistics show.

Garbage man dies from bee sting

A garbage collector from NSW's Riverina area who died after being stung by a bee was allergic to bee venom, it has emerged.
But even for someone with such an allergy, his chances of dying from a bee sting were remote, statistics show.

The 45-year-old Narrandera man died in Griffith District Hospital on Thursday after being stung while collecting rubbish from a property 20km away at Willbriggie, police said.

Allergic to bee stings, the man made his way to a nearby farmhouse where an ambulance was called and later arrived, with paramedics treating the man with adrenalin for his reaction.

The man's name is expected to be released by police later on Friday.
His death follows a 16-year-old boy dying in Sydney on Sunday, a day after being bitten on the hand by an eastern brown snake in a suburban bush reserve.
The chances of dying from a bee sting in Australia is less than one in a million, even for those allergic to bee or wasp stings. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures on bee/wasp sting mortality show the average incidence of death is 0.084 per one million population per year. Fifty people had died in Australia from the stings between 1982 and 2004, with 10 dying between 2000 and 2004.

Medical experts say the fatalities occur mostly in men over 40 years of age, with bees accounting for four times the number of wasp fatalities in Australia. In a study of 25 Australian deaths between 1960 and 1981, published by America's National Library of Medicine, no one aged six to 19 years died, the age group in which bee-sting anaphylaxis is particularly common.

It's believed heart conditions developed by older men contribute to their death from the stings. In another study of the seven deaths from 1979 to 1998, all involved men in rural settings. Five of the seven victims had prior histories of wasp or bee venom allergy, or both, but none carried injectable adrenalin. All patients with a history of systemic Hymenoptera sting allergy should undergo assessment for immunotherapy and carry adrenalin, the Medical Journal of Australia study says.


The 45-year-old Narrandera man died in Griffith District Hospital on Thursday after being stung while collecting rubbish from a property 20km away at Willbriggie, police said. Allergic to bee stings, the man made his way to a nearby farmhouse where an ambulance was called and later arrived, with paramedics treating the man with adrenalin for his reaction.
The man's name is expected to be released by police later on Friday.
His death follows a 16-year-old boy dying in Sydney on Sunday, a day after being bitten on the hand by an eastern brown snake in a suburban bush reserve.

The chances of dying from a bee sting in Australia is less than one in a million, even for those allergic to bee or wasp stings.Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures on bee/wasp sting mortality show the average incidence of death is 0.084 per one million population per year.

Fifty people had died in Australia from the stings between 1982 and 2004, with 10 dying between 2000 and 2004. Medical experts say the fatalities occur mostly in men over 40 years of age, with bees accounting for four times the number of wasp fatalities in Australia.

In a study of 25 Australian deaths between 1960 and 1981, published by America's National Library of Medicine, no one aged six to 19 years died, the age group in which bee-sting anaphylaxis is particularly common. It's believed heart conditions developed by older men contribute to their death from the stings.

In another study of the seven deaths from 1979 to 1998, all involved men in rural settings. Five of the seven victims had prior histories of wasp or bee venom allergy, or both, but none carried injectable adrenalin. All patients with a history of systemic Hymenoptera sting allergy should undergo assessment for immunotherapy and carry adrenalin, the Medical Journal of Australia study says.

[Wood Borer]

They love blocking the exhaust holes on your brush cutters too. Have been caught out a few times trying to get the bloody thing going and after cursing and kicking the stupid thing, you then remember to check the exhaust pipe. Normally have to pull the muffler off and give it a good clean out.

Thanks DJ - I should have read your post earlier than tonight.

Today I fired up the lawn mower and it was running like a dog, cleaned out the air filter, checked the spark plug and then the exhaust It was neatly puttied up with mud.

[Andy Mac]

Gas burners on BBQ's and kilns are also attractive places for them to nest, the latter is something I have to check on at work before we try firing.
When I did aircraft engine fitters training in the RAAF, it was instilled on us early about plugging up every orifce, open pipe etc with bungs or rags during maintenance for that very reason. The trainer's main teaching tool was folded pieces of paper bearing the words "mud wasp", and would plant them in any unsecured hole when you left the job. Later, when busy into a rebuild, they would saunter past and ask if you checked such-and-such for mud wasps, and sure enough, after stripping it all apart there would be a tell-tale piece of paper! I guess it was originally a hard-learned lesson, and they were keen to prevent it happening again.

Cheers,

[Eddie Jones]

So what was it trying to do?

Maybe in training for the upcoming World Spider Stuffing Games??

[bitingmidge]

Fifty people had died in Australia from the stings between 1982 and 2004, with 10 dying between 2000 and 2004.

Fifty people killed by bees in 22 years, in the meantime:
http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/content/view.asp?id=235

In the last 20 years, there have been 26 recorded fatalities due to shark attack = averages 1.3 per year. (QLD = 8, SA = 10, NSW = 1, TAS = 1, VIC = 0, WA = 6, NT = 0).

Does that mean that there's a case for Bee meshing at our beaches?

Don't the poor old sharks cop a hiding just because they drip a bit of blood when they bite!

P

[silentC]

I went to school with that guy who tried to swim down the throat of a shark the other day. Nice bloke. Wasn't voted most likely to be swallowed by a shark though. Shows how accurate those polls are!

[Cliff Rogers]

Fifty people killed by bees in 22 years, in the meantime:...

Well I'll bee buggered.