DIGITAL FIELD GUIDE: WASPS (Order: Hymenoptera)
Isodontia elegans
<-- from Key Location 10a
Identification features: Only one species of Isodontia was observed in the Botanical Gardens. Isodontia elegans is a thread-waisted wasp. Her head and thorax are golden brown; her abdomen is a segmented, reddish-brown bulb; her legs are also reddish-brown. She has a slender thread-like waist connecting abdomen to thorax. Most strikingly, this wasp has an aura of golden hairs on its abdomen and a bright sparkley golden face. Other thread-waisted wasps hold their wings overlapped and flat over the abdomen when not flying, but Isodontia holds her wings spread out and up at a jaunty angle.
Nesting habit and prey : Isodontia is commonly known as a grass-carrier wasp, refering to her nest building habit. Instead of digging a new hole, she modifies a pre-existing cavity, an old beetle hole in a stalk, or a wasp hole in the ground. She lines the cavity with blades of grass she cuts and carries to the nest, and she is often observed flying with a blade of grass. When the nest is ready, she hunts for her prey, grasshoppers. She stings the grasshopper, paralyzing, but not killing it, and drags it back to the nest. She puts several grasshoppers into the nest, lays egg on one grasshopper, then seals the nest with additional blades of grass.
Isodontia as pollinator : While Isodontia hunts for grasshoppers as provisions for her young, it sips nectar from flowers for its own sustenance. This wasp has a short tongue and has been observed on plants with shallow, white flowers, such as Texas kidneywood, soapberry, and mortonia.
