Wasp Decapitates Dead Bee

BloomingMarvellous · #1 (**permalink**) 24-09-2009, 06:02 PM

This Wasp found this dead Bee in a Cobweb, even though the Bee was dead the Wasp attacked It until the bee was beheaded.

aeshna5 · #2 (**permalink**) 24-09-2009, 06:13 PM

Excellent sequence of photos showing this behaviour.

Ps. Anybody else really annoyed by the ads around this for wasp killing services- seems totally inappropriate for here!

Rossco · #3 (**permalink**) 24-09-2009, 11:11 PM

Good pics. They do this to get at the thorax and flight muscles it contains. They'll take the thorax back to the nest to feed to the larvae. It's not completely understood why they leave the head and abdomen, but it could be due to minimizing the transmission of pathogens and parasites. You often see them doing the same to big flies.

tigger · #4 (**permalink**) 26-09-2009, 07:08 AM

I watched and photographed a wasp doing this the other day, and it's main "prize" was the head. After it had cut it off it flew up into a tree to eat it (I photographed this as well). It didn't go back for the thorax/flight muscles. It then went on to the next bee caught in a web and cut that one's head off. Are you sure they aren't specifically going for the head? In the end I watched it do the same thing to three bees - much to the annoyance of the owner of the web...