DIGITAL FIELD GUIDE: WASPS (Order: Hymenoptera)
Ammophila pictipennis
<-- from Key Location 5b
Identification features: We observed at least three species of Ammophila in the Gardens. Ammophila pictipennis is quite common and its distinctive shape and color pattern is easy to recognize. This species is ½—1 inch long. The wasp has a long slender abdomen with a bulb-shaped tip. The abdomen is attached to the throax by an elongated stalk. At rest, wings are usually held folded one on top of the other over the abdomen, leaving about half of the abdomen exposed. The stalk part of the abdomen is black, changing to red-orange as it thickens slightly into the bulbous tip, and then, back to black at the tip. Head, thorax, and legs are black. This wasp may be confused with Ammophila procera due to the similar colors, but Ammophila pictipennis is much smaller than Ammophila procera, which can be up to two inches long.
Nesting habit and prey : The female wasp builds and provisions the nest, which is a hole in sandy soil. (Ammophila means “sand-loving”.) After she digs a hole, she hunts for caterpillars. When she has gathered several caterpillars, then lays an egg on one of them and seals the nest. She then moves on to build and provision additional nests. When the wasp larvae hatches, it eats the caterpillars.
Ammophila as pollinator : Ammophila is found nectaring on many Garden plants with shallow flowers which have nectar accessible to her short tongue, such as Texas kidneywood, butterfly bush, Mexican thistle, mortonia, turpentine bush, dalea, threadleaf groundsel, and croton. Although not particularly fuzzy, she is often observed with pollen covering her mouthparts and face. As she flies from plant to plant, sipping nectar, she also moves pollen from flower to flower, which makes her an important pollinator of native vegetation.
