July 2022 • Nebraskaland 29
teams that specialize in either brood rearing, nest guarding or
foraging for prey, water or wood pulp. Males come along in
later generations, in time to be available for their only job:
mating with reproductive females before winter.
Not all wasps fi t neatly into the solitary or social nesting
categories. Some, called subsocial nesters, follow the same
approach as solitary nesters except that the mother will
return to her eggs periodically to check on their feeding. If
needed, she'll go out and fi nd more food for them. Subsocial
nesters provide more interaction and care than solitary
wasps, but still don't live long enough to see their kids mature
Photos above and right: Female fi ve-banded thynnid wasps
(Myzinum quinquecinctum) fi nd, sting and lay eggs on scarab
beetle larvae underground. Both males and females feed
on fl owers and males often congregate in large numbers
overnight. They are not aggressive toward people.
