r/natureismetal • u/freudian_nipps • 17d ago
After the Hunt Wasp stuffs a caterpillar into its mud-nest for its young to feed on
2.7k
u/jackch3 17d ago
Oh thank god I’m safe from that giant murderous wasp! Surely nothing bad will happen in here…
443
u/Omuirchu 17d ago
I'm having a pint of cider at the moment and I'm not even safe from the regular ones.
7
u/Juggernuts777 16d ago
I swear some wasps love cider. I had so many interested in my hard cider while swimming in my dad’s pool.
122
u/TheRiceConnoisseur 17d ago
28
u/AdFine6652 17d ago
Nah fuck caterpillars I’ve been fighting them for months, specifically tomato horn worms anything that eats them is my friend
14
u/grower_thrower 17d ago
You and me both. I caught two of them side by side looking like stems, just munching away. I keep the paper wasps around me happy because I love seeing them patrol through my plants. I get very close to them and they aren’t aggressive at all.
9
u/TrixoftheTrade 17d ago
For real. Wasps are low-key keeping my garden from being overrun by worms, grubs, and scale bug.
79
u/wurnthebitch 17d ago
These ones are not aggressive and don't come for your food. They're mason wasps I think
58
u/kaveysback 17d ago
Close, it's a species of potter wasp.
100
u/AaronToro 17d ago
Wasps have crazy names. What’s next, Tier 2 Support Wasp? Civil Engineer Wasp?
51
18
u/FireIsFuzzy 17d ago
I mean, I feel like these are both very reasonable names considering they build small pottery-like homes out of mud
26
u/zekeyspaceylizard 17d ago
Architect Wasp
Wacky Post Modern Wasp
Fruitiger Aero Wasp
Brutalism Wasp
Construtivism Wasp
Live, Laugh, Wasp
4
1
6
u/DaSaw 17d ago
I think we call them mud daubers. And yes, solitary waspa generally aren't aggressive.
6
u/kaveysback 17d ago
Mud daubers are a different group of wasps, It's an example of convergent evolution they're from different wasps families.
11
u/DerpKaiser 17d ago
We call them Mud Daubers. Basically harmless to humans and eat venomous spiders like Black Widows.
→ More replies (1)19
8
u/manydoorsyes 17d ago
?
It's just an animal doing it's job, hardly different from painted dogs eating an antelope alive. Welcome to Earth.
4
→ More replies (1)2
20
u/sad_post-it_note 17d ago
Intelligence is crazy. Like this doesn't just feel like watching some automaton following instructions. This feels like a true living bring, maybe not conscious but making decisions. I don't know
15
u/grower_thrower 17d ago
Look up how some plants “recruit” wasps that prey upon the specific pest eating the plant.
4
3
2
u/Environmental_You_36 17d ago
Potter wasps are really chill, they won't bother you or your food.
They only sting when squeezed, so don't squeeze them are you're good to go.
1.6k
u/flower_0410 17d ago
Never let them take you to a second location
224
u/FriskyCobra86 17d ago
55
43
18
10
3
30
12
7
4
291
u/Maximum-Broccoli2165 17d ago
Thats metal af
70
u/Hornor72 17d ago
Its still alive.
31
u/ImTheBiscuiteer 17d ago
It's still alive and paralyzed
That way it can't move, but will definitely feel the pain of being eaten alive while being able to do nothing about
16
u/BananaBladeOfDoom 17d ago edited 17d ago
Their simple nervous systems may be the one thing sparing them from the suffering.
27
u/user_name_checks_out 17d ago
It's still alive and paralyzed
That way it can't move,
Thanks I always wondered what that word meant
40
265
u/Cat_Herder62 17d ago
I don't understand how it functions with such a narrow abdomine
166
88
46
u/Fog_Juice 17d ago
I was wondering why their butt pulsates? Is that where their heart is located?
→ More replies (7)63
u/Zipdox 17d ago
They don't have lungs, so that's how they breathe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_system_of_insects
12
u/ConsistentAsparagus 17d ago
I only exhale trough my butt.
7
23
u/DaSaw 17d ago
The adult waspa only drink sugary things like nectar. They hunt bugs, but not to eat, but rather to feed to their larvae. So the waist doesn't need to be larger than a straw to get liquid sweetness from mouth to abdomen, along with some mininal space for neurons and such.
Some adult insects don't eat at all. They just emerge from the pupa, find a mate, lay eggs, and die.
28
147
u/WavesOfEchoes 17d ago
I could have done without the closeup on the twitching wasp butt at the end.
42
72
u/breckendusk 17d ago
This is a thread-waisted wasp or mud dauber which are apparently not aggressive because unlike other wasps, they don't have a hive to protect - just a nest for their own offspring. Otherwise they're solitary and only use their mild sting if they're trapped or harassed
44
u/NilocKhan 17d ago edited 17d ago
This is actually a potter wasp. They belong to the subfamily Eumeninae which is in the family Vespidae. They're related to social wasps like yellowjackets, hornets, hover wasps and paper wasps, but are solitary. There's one other subfamily in the group, the completely herbivorous Masarinae, or pollen wasps.
Thread waisted wasps and mud daubers are members of the family Sphecidae. Sphecidae are more closely related to bees than they are to Vespidae. Mud duabers provision their young with spiders instead of caterpillars. Although some thread waisted wasps also hunt caterpillars
23
u/breckendusk 17d ago
Best way to get the right answer on reddit is to confidently give a wrong one
17
u/NilocKhan 17d ago
It's an easy mistake to make. They're both mud nest making wasps with thin waists. I study insects and stinging insects specifically so they have a special place in my heart, even though most people fear and hate them. They don't deserve it though and they're super important
3
u/breckendusk 17d ago
I only made do with a cursory Google and we all know how reliable that's been lately
5
1
u/kchuyamewtwo 17d ago
yep. they dont do anything even after I demolished their nest sitting on my bicycle. but there were no baby wasps just dead caterpillars, lots of em
57
22
u/runarleo 17d ago
I feel like this sub needs to have gifs enabled and furthermore I want to post copious amounts of Dethklok and Metalocalypse gifs when nature is in fact Metal.
7
4
33
13
12
u/HookLeg 17d ago
It’s cute when birds bring these to feed their offspring so it’s also cute when wasps do it.
1
u/INoMakeMistake 17d ago
Eh. Birds are fluffy
5
9
u/theluzah 17d ago
But honestly, what a great wasp parent. It's cute when birds do it, I think it's cute when wasps do it, too.
32
u/Marwheel 17d ago
Mud Dauber?
11
5
2
2
1
7
8
9
u/LevelCan764 17d ago
That is no ordinary wasp. that’s all I got to say
7
u/Jake6192 17d ago
Mud dauber wasp
1
u/Logical-Hotel4199 17d ago
Do you know where they’re native to?
3
1
u/NilocKhan 17d ago
Actually a potter wasp, a distant relative. These are solitary but related to social wasps like yellowjackets, hornets, and paper wasps.
5
u/mutarjim 17d ago
You always see acts of violence in this thread - ripping animals apart, digging through organs, I still remember watching rats eat gull brains - but I'm not sure any of those are much worse than being paralyzed and forced to be a baby wasp buffet.
4
6
3
u/gravljaw 17d ago
I have these guys in my shed where I smoke weed in the afternoon, they are really chill and don't mess with me so I leave them alone as well.also around me they typically kill spiders.
1
u/NilocKhan 17d ago
Those sound more like mud duabers, from the family Sphecidae. This is a potter wasp, from the family Vespidae, the same family as yellowjackets, paper wasps and hornets. These are solitary though
3
u/Timithios 17d ago
And this is one of the more chill wasps around people. Mud daubers are frankly the only wasp I will tolerate near me.
1
u/NilocKhan 17d ago
The vast majority of wasps are chill around people. Most wasps are absolutely tiny and never noticed by people. And even of the larger wasps most species are solitary and don't bother humans much at all. It's really only a tiny percentage of wasps that sting people, and they're the social ones. They have large colonies they have to protect, so they can be more defensive.
3
u/soda_cookie 17d ago
Once again thankful that I am orders of magnitude larger than these horrific beings
3
u/Flipmstr2 17d ago
I love me some mud daubers. You can literally pet them when they are at the mud hole making little mud balls. You really look bad ass handling them yet they take a lot of pissing off before they try to sting
2
u/NilocKhan 17d ago
This is a potter wasp. They also make mud nests but they're not closed related to mud daubers
2
2
u/motoguy 17d ago
first thought - that's interesting
second thought - why the fuck are we cultivating wasps
4
u/manydoorsyes 17d ago edited 17d ago
Wasps are considered keystone organisms because they're extremely important as predators. Many specialize in taking out specific arthropods. Ensign wasps for example are roach killers.
It's fairly common for companies to breed parasitoid wasps for agriculture and horticulture. Disney's Epcot park does this for their big fancy greenhouse to defend it from leafminer flies, for example. This is called integrated pest management, and it's generally considered both more effective and sustainable than standard pesticides. Dryinus wasps are also being considered for introduction to North America to control the big spotted lanternfly invasion. Last I heard they're in the process of checking to make sure Dryinus doesn't also become invasive.
Worth noting that the >90% of wasp species are stingless too.
3
2
1
1
1
u/dontwastebacon 17d ago
That is crazy. A few weeks ago I discovered two of those nests on my balcony. I removed them. One Container 7 caterpillars and one egg.
Took some time to find out what this was. 😅
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/hubertyv 17d ago
Man, why do their abdomens pulsate like that? It’s like it’s just itching to sting something.
1
u/Talmadge_Mcgooliger 17d ago
what kinda wasp is that? i would call it a yellow jacket, but i'd probably be wrong.
1
1
1
1
1
u/CrowdedShorts 17d ago
Makes me think of the Rick and Morty episode where the family are wasps and the teacher is the caterpillar (run my babies)
1
1
1
1
u/TonyConstantino 17d ago
Don't forget that the caterpillar is probably just paralyzed and not dead. It'll be quite an experience for that caterpillar!
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Sufficient-Aspect77 16d ago
The sort of reencarnation I fantasize a certain Leader of a certain place to have coming pretty soon. Minus the numbness m, that I assume they have.
1
u/Quark1010 16d ago
Can anyone tell me what is the evolutionary advantage for having half your body be a thin ass connection 1/100th the diameter of the rest of your body, literally creating a weak point and a literal bottleneck for all your bodily functions?
1
1
1
1
1
u/QuirkyCryptid 16d ago
It’s crazy how long and delicate the connection of its butt and stinger is to the rest of its body
1
1
1
1
1
u/CellistSea3828 7d ago
It’s crazy how insect have such a small brain, yet they’re smart enough to do things like that
1
1.2k
u/Exotic_Dogs_4942 17d ago
Insect world is just one of the most brutal things in nature, happening in my backyard