Dolichovespula sylvestris queen

[JRsbugs]

Hi,

I don't know when Dolichovespula sylvestris queens should be hibernating. This was feeding today on Ivy flowers, wondering if the warm weather has brought it out or it hibernates late.

Janet

[bonitin]

I'm of no help with your question Janet
Just wanted to say what a great shots of this impressive queen!
It would be interesting to know when it is assumed to go into hibernation..

[JRsbugs]

Thanks bonitin . She does move slowly making it easier to get shots, although she seems to prefer to go around the back of flowers!

She has been there again this morning, and I seem to have males which don't look like V. vulgaris or V. germanica, but I will have to look at the pics more carefully when I download them.

[eucera]

Normally I would imagine these go into hibernation earlier than this. Te males are on the wing in July, and I suspect the majority of mated queens go into hibernation in August. It is certainly unusual to see any Dolichovespula around at this time of year

[JRsbugs]

Thanks Stuart, that's what I thought but as D. sylvestris is more widely spread and in Scotland too I did wonder. The very mild weather must have something to do with it, yesterday got to 16C here.

I also saw a queen Vespa crabro ssp. vexator but it was just leaving the Ivy, a shame as it was huge, looked to be about 2 inches long!

[JRsbugs]

The unusual males I have are big, around 3/4" and I would say just short of 2cm or 19mm long. They have yellow at the bottom of the antennae scapes, pattern on abdomen is very variable and I think I have at least 3 different males.

The first I took pics of on the 22nd October, last Thursday and I persisted until I got a pic of the face but it was covered in pollen! Some look to have no marking at all on the face, but when expanded I can make out the pattern which fits Dolichovespula saxonica! This sounds big for that species. They don't have the shoulder '7' mark which D. media has.

I still have to download todays pics so will post some later, I made sure I got a good face pic of most of them today, they were slower without the warmth of the sun. I can upload some from the previous days now.

[JRsbugs]

These are all from the 22nd October. Not necessarily the same wasp although the last two pics I think are, but all about the same size and all taken within a few mintues of each other.

[JRsbugs]

I only got one pic on Friday 23rd October, sunning itself on an Ivy leaf.

I'm having trouble with the image link, this pic didn't show so I copied and pasted the link.

[JRsbugs]

I took pics on Saturday as well, but will post 3 different forms from yesterday 25th. First two showing the face of each, enlarging the pics further will show the faint 'saxonica' pattern.

[eucera]

Where I can see them, the malar spaces are very short indeed and this would rule out Dolichovespula.

It can be quite difficult separating V. vulgaris and V. germanica without squinting at the reproductive capsules. These are really the only genuinely likely candidates