Blue Flower Wasp

bugman

December 23rd, 2007 at 1:00 am

Tags

Black bodied, blue winged wasp like bug
Hey bug people,
I’ve found lots of bugs on your site but this one has got me so far. Lots of these fly around our tomatoes here in Australia. I’ve had tomatoes before but never saw these before. They seemed too big to be a black flower wasp (that and they leave our regular flowers alone). They have bright blue wings and eyes with black bodies. They constantly move so this was a clear a shot as I could get. Thanks
Peter

Hi Peter,
We suspect these are Blue Flower Wasps or Hairy Flower Wasps, Discolia soror, based on images posted to the Geocities Website. They are in the family SCOLIIDAE Scoliidae. Adult Blue Flower Wasps are nectar feeders and the larvae feed on Scarab Beetle Grubs. The female wasp locates the beetle grubs in the soil, digs down and lays an egg on the grub. The Csiro Website (which refers to this species as the Black Flower Wasp) indicates: “Black flower wasps are solitary and do not make communal nests. However, in mid to late summer, they often form small swarms flying low over an area of turf, a compost heap or around a shrub. The adults can also be seen taking nectar from flowers.”