Mason Wasp

 Granddaughter told me of a mud wasp nest her Dad had found that was attached to their bbq pit.  We harvested it and began opening the cells to see what type of prey the adult had gathered and stored for its prodigy.  When we opened the first cell a fully developed mason wasp (Euodynerus apopkensis) began to crawl out.  It flew a short distance and landed nearby, and began twitching its thin, cellophane-like wings to and fro as if to stretch them following its long nap inside the lump of dirt, before flying away.

In another cell though we found another wasp that was not quite developed.  Its white form almost appeared ghost-like. 

We both felt a sense of guilt for disturbing it, so we decided to placed it back into its cell and then we collected some dirt, which we wetted and sealed the hole enclosing the pupa inside.  We then took the nest and placed it in one of her bug boxes. We’re hoping that it will continue to develop and then dig its way out, then we’ll release it.

I’ve seen this particular wasp in other areas, once in our firewood pile.  We had been rummaging around in the wood for geckos when we spotted one halfway into what appeared to be the exit hole of a wood-boring beetle. 

Not sure what it was looking for.  I later found out that these wasps will utilize or “repurpose” paper wasp nests.  Maybe it was repurposing the exit hole/tunnel of the beetle. 

Luna Moth

This lime green beauty was found by my brother up at his place in the woods. Actually he found the cocoon first and then kept an eye on it until it hatched. Luna moths (Actias luna)are mostly nocturnal (mostly active at night) and are among some of the largest moths found in the U.S. with wingspans of 3-4 inches. The female lays anywhere from 100-300 very tiny eggs on the underside of leaves and they take anywhere from 10-14 days to hatch. Once the caterpillar hatches it begins its constant feeding on the leaves of hickory, walnut, persimmon, and sweet gum trees for about 3-4 weeks. Once the caterpillar is fully grown it starts looking for a proper place to cocoon. The cocoon is formed from silk that is produced from a hole near its mouth and once done it pulls a leaf around the cocoon and then metamorphosis begins.
About a week later the pupa is formed that contains the developing moth and three weeks later to begins erupting from its incubation chamber. Once it has fully exited the pupa shell it allows its wings to dry and then flies into the night to mate. Get this….adult luna moths have no mouthparts- they do not eat, and unfortunately they only live for about a week meaning their one and only purpose in life is to mate.