Polistes wasp feeding larvae

[Nancy Bell]

I believe this wasp must be the foundress of this at-the-moment very small nest. I plan to watch this and see if it grows as the season progresses. These wasps are common and luckily not very aggressive. I stood at the top of a ladder to take this and don't think I could have scrambled fast enough or safe enough if she got nasty. It was very interesting to first watch her chew a ball of bright green stuff over and over in her mandibles, and then watch her feed portions of it to each larvae in the nest. She tended to each larvae in turn, repeatedly looking in on them, round and round the nest, over and over. I have never seen an active wasp larvae before. Today as I look into the nest the larvae are pulled way back into the cells and not active at all. Also there has been no wasp present when I have checked the nest today.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100 macro, 1/200, f8, ISO 1000, ETTL flash -1 comp.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Your trepidation has been well rewarded Nancy, I really like the image, the flash is nicely controlled and as well as good detail in the wasp we can see the grub in the cell. Just the wasp and the nest would have been something but to see the grub too takes the image up a further notch or two.

[Steve Maxson]

A really nice shot of the parent and larvae, Nancy. Excellent sharpness and the light from the flash was nicely handled. The front leg closest to us seems to be in a rather odd position - was it able to move this leg around or was it possibly injured? Very well done!

[John Robinson]

Great natural history shot nancy, and description.
Leg does look odd. Scratching his back maybe ?!!
John

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you Jonathan, Steve and John. About that leg, I think the wasp found feeding a bit messy as she spent a fair amount of time afterwards grooming each leg by pulling them through her mandibles. I think this must be part of the grooming. All her legs were perfectly fine. Update: all larvae active, no adult at the moment.

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the followup, Nancy. :S3:

[Jerry van Dijk]

Very interesting shot Nancy, and very well captured too! Something I've never seen before, mostly because I get these nests in the shed only, which is a place we often use, so I remove them quickly. Only thing I every saw therefore were the eggs, one shine white globe in each of the cells. These nest are really a miracle to me the way they are built!