Blue-winged Wasp

A Blue-winged Wasp (Scolia dubia) enjoying Apple Mint (Mentha suaveolens) in one of my gardens.

This is a wonderful wasp to have in the yard. The female tunnels into the soil to find Japanese Beetle grubs (Popillia japonica). It will lay its eggs on those grubs, and as the eggs turn into larvae, growing and maturing, they will eat the grubs.

What a wonderful help with pest control.

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Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.