onenicebugperday: @loracarol submitted: Hello! I’m in Oregon and found this little bug at our
onenicebugperday: @loracarol submitted: Hello! I’m in Oregon and found this little bug at our local indoor ice skating rink on the ice. We all thought she was dead, but I wanted to get some pics for identification. I’m trying to be Better About Not Hating Wasps, but I’ll admit, when it turned out she was in fact Not Dead and started moving around on my hand, it gave me a bit of a startle. I’m also the kind of person that has bug vials on me at all times, so we popped her in one and I let her loose as soon as I got outside. If you’re able to ID her, that’d be lovely, but if not, no worries! (I’m assuming female because my knowledge base is honeybees, but I’m willing to admit I might be wrong about that too.) If she was on the ice, it’s very possible she just got too cold to be able to fly away, so good thing you picked her up! She looks like a western paper wasp, Mischocyttarus flavitarsis. I agree, she’s likely a female based on her antennae. Males have antennae with curled ends. A little man, for admiration:Photo by jnelson Today I learned how to sex paper wasps -- source link
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