Friend and Foe!
You might see insects nesting in the ground. Is it a friend or a foe?
BEE: FRIEND!
There are almost 500 bee species in BC and approximately 70 percent of them nest in the ground!
A common genus is Halictus as in the video of nectaring males. Some bees nest in aggregations as in the video of the genus Melissodes.
WASP: FOE if you step on it, but also a FRIEND because wasps are voracious eaters of aphid and leaf roller larvae and are also pollinators!
Image: Male Halictus – Elaine Sedgman
Wasp Nest – University of Minnesota Extension
Videos: Melisodes Nest – Estelle Bérubé
Male Halictus – Elaine Sedgman
Sources:
Wilson & Carril, The Bees in Your Backyard, Princeton University Press, 2016 Hahn, J. Be on the Alert for Wasp Nests. University of Minnesota Extension.
https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-news/late-summer-wasp-nests
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