Saturday 16 August 2008

Wasp and rust

Villeneuve lez AvignonYellowjacket wasps exploring a rusty abandoned truck.
Yellowjackets, in contrast to honey bees, are not covered with dense brown hair on their bodies and lack the flattened hairy hind legs used to carry pollen. They have a lance-like stinger with small barbs and typically sting repeatedly whereas honey bees can only sting once.
While adult wasps feed primarily on items rich in sugars and carbohydrates (fruits, flower nectar and tree sap), the larvae feed on proteins (insects, meats, fish, etc.). Adult workers chew and condition the meat fed to the larvae. Larvae in return secrete a sugar material relished by the adults, an exchange of material known as trophallaxis. More about wasps here on wikipedia.

Des guêpes explorent un vieux camion rouillé abandonné dans un champ.
Contrairement aux abeilles, les guê
pes n'ont pas le corps couvert de poils bruns et n'ont pas les pattes postérieures adaptées à la récolte et au transport du pollen (brosse, peigne et corbeille). Elles portent à l'extrémité de l'abdomen un aiguillon en forme de lance relié à une glande à venin. Contrairement à l'abeille dont l'aiguillon est en forme de crochet, la guêpe peut piquer plusieurs fois.
Alors que les guêpes adultes se nourrissent essentiellement de sucres et de carbohydrates (fruits bien mûrs, nectar, sève d'arbre), les larves se nourrissent exclusivement de protéines crues (viande, poisson, insectes...). Les adultes pré- mâchent la viande donnée aux larves. En échange, les larves sécrètent un produit sucré très apprécié des adultes. En savoir plus : wikipedia.

17 comments:

Julie said...

That first chap looks like he has imbided one litre of nectar too many!

The rust is so beautiful with such bubbly texture.

Wonderful work, Nathalie. I like this very much, indeed.

melanie said...

Très belles prises et explications intéressantes !

Pas folle la guêpe !

Jules said...

Hi Nathalie - good to catch up again!! As usual a great set of photos.

Anonymous said...

Wasps and hornets are nasty creatures or can be. I like to photograph the 'bald-faced' hornet as they can really sting the daylights out of you but if you give them a chance to recognize you are no harm, they generally tolerate your presence. They look a lot like your wasp in color.

These are both nice shots and unless you had a good zoom lens, you must have been getting close. We call that, "pushing your luck."

Bill said...

Nice shot! We seem to have more than our share as well. To quote Douglas Adams, "Mostly Harmless". :)

Anonymous said...

Abraham, I was not using a zoom lens but the macro photography option on my camera. At times I was no more than a few centimetres away from the wasps. They didn't seem restless or aggressive, I was in no way under the impression that I was pushing my luck.

Victor said...

I love this photo but it gives me the shivers too. I once had a run-in with a gang of yellowjackets that resulted in 20+ stings and quite a lot of profane language.

claude said...

Mon Chéri s'est fait piquer l'autre jour par une toute petite guêpe au ventre et il a eu un oedème gros et grand comme une main. Je déteste ces bestiolles. J'ai promis à Abraham que je ne tuerai plus d'abeilles mais les guêpes si.
Concernant ton post d'hier, le chapeau est très en couleurs et la casquette légèrement à claire-voie.
J'étais très chapeau et même casquette (je l'ai toujours) mais mon nouveau Chéri, enfon tjrs le même depuis 23 ans, n'aime pas les chapeaux, donc je n'en mets plus.

Pat said...

I get horrible reactions to yellow jackets' stings...ow. I steer clear of them, but got close to your photos!

Bob Crowe said...

I would be reluctant to get so close to this thing regardless of what kind of lens I was using. It looks like it is in colorful modern battle gear, like a comic book superhero.

Steve Buser said...

Good shot, even if it is a mean subject. I have had one too many stings in my day.

ichandrae said...

Magnifique photo.
Je ne c'est pas pourquoi mais cette guèpe dans la première photo me fait rire. Est-ce qu'il fait les acrobats?

Bergson said...

la première est superbe je l'appellerai "acrobaties anti tétanos"
le format carré lui va bien

merci pour les explications mais une piqure !

Anonymous said...

Didn't realise you were back in France, these macro shots are just great!

Great work on your blog today and a very appropriate picture.

I've just racked up two years at South Shields Daily Photo and I hope to be passing here in two years time to compliment you again! Keep up the good work!
Thanks to everyone who has passed by and left a comment or some encouragement, it makes it all worthwhile.

from Curly at South Shields Daily Photo

MmeBenaut said...

Nasty they may be but they are beautiful creatures too and so incredibly fast when they fly. These are stunning photos Nathalie.

Squirrel said...

you are a genius with the camera.

Pod said...

i am severely allergic to these little critters...i have been rushed to hospital twice, and have to carry adrenalin with me. weird how some people react so strongly?!

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