Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Tea party photo op

A yellow jacket queen dropped in to visit a couple of days ago. I fed her a few drops of sugar water "tea" and she stayed to drink it while I took her photo.

"Hi!"

She's a Western Yellowjacket, Vespula pensylvanica. These are one of the only two species of yellowjacket that have the main eyes completely circled by yellow. (See BugGuide's species key.) Those little bright dots on the top of her head are also eyes; three of them. They mostly distinguish light from shadow. The other eyes do most of the work. Yellow jackets have excellent vision.

Females have 6 abdominal segments; males have 6. Females have 12 antennae segments: males have 13. But the males are smaller than the queen.

Like a cat, she washes her face after the meal.

The thing about taking photos from an inch away is that only certain bits end up in focus. Here, a couple of appendages showed up; I don't know what they are.

"Gotta go now. Thanks for the tea!"

I trapped her with a glass and carried her outside. I don't want her making a nest in my windowsill flowerpots.

2 comments:

  1. Great photos. And a great lesson.

    ReplyDelete
  2. If by unknown appendages you're referring to the ones behind the mandibles, those are the palps. Insects generally have two pairs in the back of the mouth; they're used for manipulating and tasting food.

    ReplyDelete

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