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What's the difference between bees and wasps?

Sand Wasps -- Sphecidae:

We have been looking at this amazing group of wasps in lecture. They have been the subject of many studies from the late 1870s until now. John Alcock, author of your text book, has studied them. If you want an very nice introduction to them and other wasps, check out the book by Howard Evans and M.J. West Eberhard:

Howard E. Evans & Mary Jane West Eberhard. 1970. The Wasps. Ann Arbor, Univ. Michigan Press - Sciences Library QL568.V5 E8

The common orange and black genus of sand wasps (Amophilla spp.) uses various caterpillar species. Most will place the caterpillar near the hole and pull it in from below (remember the FAP slide in lecture).

Below is a blue and yellow striped Bembix who often provisions with flies. You have to look very close when she returns to see the fly held under her thorax with her middle legs.

Sand wasps come in many "flavors" but the common ones you might see dig burrows in sandy areas (even between the bricks on sidewalks around Brown!) and provision their nests with various insects that are stung and carried back to the nest.

The best way to watch them is to wait in an area where you see them digging or where there are holes with sand piled off to one side (not conical mounds like ants make). Wait by a fresh hole and she will eventually emerge or return. The behavior she shows after closing the hole is characteristic how they are believed to memorize the local landmarks for finding their nests later. If you decide to repeat the pine cone experiment descibed in Alcock, be sure you can put things back the way they were so she can eventually find her nest.

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