These sand wasps need a lot of sand. In the park people do all sorts of sports a keep growth scarce. Bembix rostrata digs a 10cm diagonal duct (leading to the nesting chamber) and that very quickly with synchronized movements of their forelegs. The prey are flies of different sizes (here a big Syrphid I guess) that are fed to the larvae- sometimes up to 50 per larva - After every visit to the nest the opening is carefully closed i.e. pawed shut [Heiko Bellmann, 1999, translated].Phylum: Arthropoda (artrhropods, Gliederfer)Subphylum: HexapodaClass: Insecta (insects, Insekten)Subclass: PterygotaOrder: Hymenoptera (Hautflgler)Suborder: Apocrita (wasps, bees & ants; Taillenwespen)Superfamily: Apoidea (Bienen & Grabwespen)Family: Crabronidae LATREILLE, 1802 (kind of sand wasps, eine Familie der Sandwespen)Subfamily: BembicinaeGenus: Bembix (Kreiselwespe)Bembix rostrata FABRICIUS, 1781 (Geschnbelte Kreiselwespe)NE-Germany, Berlin: Hasenheide (parc), 11.08.2012 IMG_1948
bugguide.net/node/view/672432/bgimage This is one of the wasps photographed on a mini-Bioblitz which I experienced during a 10-day period in July of 2012. It was a very hot, dry summer but for some reason during this period an unusual number of insects showed up in a small area of a conservancy area where I go to photograph sometimes. I ended up photographing around 30+ Ichneumons and Braconids and an additional 30+ assortment of other wasps, bees, flies and beetles which I had seen before.