Mellinus arvensis, the field digger wasp, is a species of solitary wasp. The wasp can commonly be found from July to late September or October in sandy places. In hard soil however the female will often try to steal a nest from another member of the same species. The female is larger than the male.[1] The wasps' nests are underground in sandy burrows with flies for their offspring to eat. The species is yellow and black like many wasp species, but they have a more narrow waist.[2] This species is the most dominant immediately following forest fires.[3]
| Mellinus arvensis | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Mellinidae |
| Genus: | Mellinus |
| Species: | M. arvensis
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| Binomial name | |
| Mellinus arvensis (Linnaeus, 1758)
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Nesting Behaviors
editThe field digger wasps are solitary hunters, yet live in colonies with one another.[4] Female members of the community will dig out multicellular nests in the sand or soil to lay their eggs, then provision the cells with prey, with the most common one being flies.[5] When the soil is too hard for digging, females will either take over an abandoned nest, or will usurp a nest from another female.[6]
References
edit- ^ Multiple authors (1979). The Oxford Book of Insects. Oxford, South East England: Oxford University Press. pp. 156. ISBN 0-19-910005-5.
- ^ "Field Digger Wasp". Wild About Britain. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
- ^ Bogusch, Petr; Blažej, Lukáš; Trýzna, Miloš; Heneberg, Petr (1 January 2015). "Forgotten role of fires in Central European forests: critical importance of early post-fire successional stages for bees and wasps (Hymenoptera: Aculeata)". European Journal of Forest Research. 134 (1): 153–166. Bibcode:2015EJFR..134..153B. doi:10.1007/s10342-014-0840-4. ISSN 1612-4677. S2CID 254190403. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ^ Ghazoul, Jaboury (October 2001). "Effect of soil hardness on aggression in the solitary wasp Mellinus arvensis". Ecological Entomology. 26 (5): 457–466. Bibcode:2001EcoEn..26..457G. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2311.2001.00348.x. ISSN 0307-6946.
- ^ Boesi, Roberto; Polidori, Carlo; Gayubo, Severiano F.; Tormos, José; Asís, Josep Daniel; Andrietti, Francesco (March 2007). "Nesting Biology, Morphological Remarks, and Description of the Mature Larva of Mellinus Arvensis Obscurus (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) in Nepal". Florida Entomologist. 90 (1): 184–190. doi:10.1653/0015-4040(2007)90[184:NBMRAD]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0015-4040.
- ^ Ghazoul, Jaboury (October 2001). "Effect of soil hardness on aggression in the solitary wasp Mellinus arvensis". Ecological Entomology. 26 (5): 457–466. Bibcode:2001EcoEn..26..457G. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2311.2001.00348.x. ISSN 0307-6946.
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