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Is this insect a hornet?
Rien Frans saw an insect in Cabo Roig in Spain that looked a lot like a hornet. He is curious if this is correct. But what Rien has photographed is not a European or Asian hornet but an innocent giant interpreter. Just like lemonade wasps, giant interpreter wasps belong to the fleece -winged insects, and then the family of the daggers. This last name sounds very intense, but this kind of wasps are harmless for people. They are parasitic wasps, especially on leaf beetles. With about five centimeters, the giant interpreter was the largest wasp in Europe. Giant interpreter wasps originally found in southern Europe. In July 2022, this species was first observed in Belgium, See this link. So who knows, there are already giant interpreter waxes roaming around in the Netherlands. This species is very recognizable by the large body, the yellow head and the completely black rear body with four yellow spots.
So they parasitize on large leaf beetles such as the Julikever (see the photo above), the flying deer and the rhino beetle. All species that you can encounter in the Netherlands. The rhino beetle in particular is on the rise in our country.
Which little spider catches a large fly here? And where is the web?
Jacqueline de Nijs wonders which little spider had jumped on a large fly. In addition, she reports that she didn’t see a web anywhere. That’s right, because in addition to spiders that catch prey through a web, there are also spiders that hunt and therefore do not build a web. The housezebraspin is such a spider that goes hunting for prey. So here the housezepraspin jumped on a large fly. Homezebrra spiders, also known as zebrasspringspinnen or harle -kijntjes, are spiders from the family of the jumping spiders. They are indeed not large and achieve a maximum of seven millimeters. Just like most spiders, the zebrash spiders have eight eyes or four pairs of eyes. What is different is that especially the front and middle eyes are very highly developed. The zebraspin can therefore see binocular (perception with two eyes at the same time). This means that such a spider has a depth view. This allows such a spider to perceive colors, see shapes and the most important thing: to estimate distance. What makes this houseze spider a formidable hunter is that the spider is able to hunt in full sun. That is why you often see zebra spiders on sunny days on almost every outside wall, outside table, picnic bench and so on. These spiders do not make a web, but spinning a kind of anchor wire that they stay on when they fall. From that hiding place they jump their prey. Such a jump can sometimes be fifty times the distance from the own height.
Sticked twice by a small animal
Raymund Leijten has been stabbed twice by a very small animal that, according to him, looks a bit like a miniwesp. He wonders which animal has stabbed him. On the photo I see a normal FranjeGroef. It can indeed stab. These small bees only do this when they are in danger, so pure from self -defense. It will be a maximum of only seven millimeters in size. The ordinary FranjeGroef can often see in sandy soil areas. It is one of the most common among the groove bees. After the females are fertilized, they will make their nests in the sandy soil. A lot of sandy soil can be found in Brabant, so you see many these kinds of bees in our province. Not only in nature reserves, also in gardens and even between tiles of the pavement. They not only get food for the descendants in their nests in willow flowers, but also with various types of other flowers such as hedge drink and just piglet herb.
SECTION Beautiful photos
In the section beautiful photos this time a photo taken by Toon Brugman. He saw beautiful caterpillars of the Queen’s page in Eersel.
Natural tip
On Sunday 7 September an excursion takes place from eight o’clock to half past year entitled ‘Autumn on Zevenhutten’.
Autumn: perhaps the most colorful season of the year. A great time to go out! The leaves discolor, the mushrooms come and animals collect a stock for their winter rest. What can you see on the Zevenhutten this season? Walk along and be wondered!
More information:
• There are no costs associated with this excursion, but book your place. This may Via this link.
• The start is the parking lot of Buitenplaats Zevenhutten.
• Zevenhutten is a hamlet south of Cuijk.
• More information, See this link.