Beewolves (genus Philanthus)
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Their name derives from their habit of nectaring on flowers, while also waiting to capture a nearby bee to bring back to their nest as larval food.
They are solitary bees that build nests in sandy soil, which also brings to mind another of their common nicknames, sand wasp.
A 1915 text entitled, The Hunting Wasps expounded on beewolve habits by saying, "If the Philanthus who has made a capture feels that her Bee is swollen with honey, she never fails, before storing her, to squeeze her crop, either on the way or at the entrance of the dwelling, so as to make her disgorge the delicious syrup, which she drinks by licking the tongue which her unfortunate victim, in her death-agony, sticks out of her mouth at full length. This profanation of a dying creature, whose enemy squeezes its belly to empty it and feast on the contents, has something so hideous about it that I should denounce the Philanthus as a brutal murderess, if animals were capable of wrongdoing."
Some of the author's excess rhetoric may be due in part to the popularity and utility of honeybees. Perhaps the large number of predatory and parasitic wasp species means Philanthus can be described as one of many wolfs in sheep's clothing of the wasp world. The picture shows its nice green eyes.
© 2009 Patricia A. Michaels