caseyborowskijr's Identifications

I observed and identified this now abandonded Dolichovespula maculata nest on 8/31/23 and 10/11/23, during which time a live adult was still seen. By 11/29/23, the nest had fallen and broken into pieces, which were also wet from snow. I slightly heated and then dissected the closed cell chambers of the nest with already-dead unemerged wasps inside. Most of the wasps were far from a complete stage of development, and some seemed damaged. My observations show 12 out of 20 or more.

Many of the unemerged cells had small holes on the top, and I found dead Sphecophaga vesparum (ichnuemonid parasitic wasps) in the bottom of a couple of the cell chambers, which are shown after these observations. This is the second abandoned nest I've dissected, the first was on 1/21/23 and had better preserved/developed unemerged wasps.

I observed and identified this now abandonded Dolichovespula maculata nest on 8/31/23 and 10/11/23, during which time a live adult was still seen. By 11/29/23, the nest had fallen and broken into pieces, which were also wet from snow. I slightly heated and then dissected the closed cell chambers of the nest with already-dead unemerged wasps inside. Most of the wasps were far from a complete stage of development, and some seemed damaged. My observations show 1 out of 20 or more.

Many of the unemerged cells had small holes on the top, and I found dead Sphecophaga vesparum (ichnuemonid parasitic wasps) in the bottom of a couple of the cell chambers, which are shown after these observations. This is the second abandoned nest I've dissected, the first was on 1/21/23 and had better preserved/developed unemerged wasps.

I observed and identified this now abandonded Dolichovespula maculata nest on 8/31/23 and 10/11/23, during which time a live adult was still seen. By 11/29/23, the nest had fallen and broken into pieces, which were also wet from snow. I slightly heated and then dissected the closed cell chambers of the nest with already-dead unemerged wasps inside. Most of the wasps were far from a complete stage of development, and some seemed damaged. My observations show 12 out of 20 or more.

Many of the unemerged cells had small holes on the top, and I found dead Sphecophaga vesparum (ichnuemonid parasitic wasps) in the bottom of a couple of the cell chambers, which are shown after these observations. This is the second abandoned nest I've dissected, the first was on 1/21/23 and had better preserved/developed unemerged wasps.