Subject: Rabat Morocco, lovely wasps everywhere
Geographic location of the bug: Rabat, Morocco
Date: 07/10/2018
Time: 03:31 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: As July began, I saw more holes in the soil, and then these large and lovely creatures emerging from them. Now they are everywhere, buzzing about the bougonvillia, feasting on the marjoram, and dancing over the roses. They are about 1″ long, and though the pictures don’t show it well, they have yellow markings that are similar to the scolid wasp pictures supplied by others on the Mediterranean. It also has interesting segmented orange antennae.
How you want your letter signed: Moroccan wasp fan
Dear Moroccan wasp fan,
Your images of this gorgeous Scarab Hunter Wasp or Flower Wasp in the family Scoliidae are truly beautiful as well. We are having trouble identifying your exact species, but your individual’s similarity to this FlickR image of Scolia bidens from Mallorca causes us to speculate that you have captured images of a different Scolia species that also has distinctive orange antennae.
Thank you! They are really quite neat, especially because I had been wondering why there were so many holes. In Morocco, we have no screens so we share our home with any number of insects (there is a constant game with the ants, I hide the honey and they find it), but these ones are my favorite so far. I do feel a bit sad for the big bumbling beetles though, I assume the number of wasps is sadly inverse to the number of those ‘junebugs’ we saw.
Andrea
Hi again Andrea,
Insect populations do ebb and flow, so when prey is plentiful, the population of predators increases, and when prey is scarce, you will see fewer predators. This is what keeps nature in balance.