Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies

Ants, Bees, and Wasps - Order Hymenoptera
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    Paper wasp, Mischocyttarus sp., from Panama.
    Orchid bee, Euglossa sp., from Panama.
    A sphecid wasp (Sphex sp.) carries a paralyzed katydid back to her burrow. She has stung and immobilized this katydid not for herself, but for her progeny, as she will bury the still-living host alive with a single egg in a tactic known as mass provisioning. Another really cool behavior I witnessed: these wasps are smart enough to know that they will get to their destination with their heavy load faster and with less effort by climbing up a tree or small plant and gaining some altitude before taking off and fluttering slowly back to the forest floor.