So no one wanted to tell me about Megascolia maculata and I just had to find out about them myself?
You know the European Rhinoceros beetle? Charming chunky beetles! Well they have a dedicated parasitoid wasp. Like cicada killers... but these girls are even bigger.
Really wasps in the US are not as big and scary as those in other countries. This is Vespa mandarinia all over again. But a scoliid wasp... they are really neat!
@futurebird as someone who raised both ants and bees, I don't understand why people are afraid of wasps. The ones up on my front deck are chill and know me. They are active pollinators in the garden and unsure if they also kill pests (I believe they do.) Like bees, they aren't aggressive unless the kids in the nest are threatened. I lost one of the wasps last month and was devastated when she passed away. Her kids did grow up and they are continuing to engineer the garden's strong health.