This is in part inspired by an Observation by @isopodguy. On that, I made the following comment:
It is amazing how diverse and different wasps are. They have a terrible reputation unfortunately but are quite charming when you look at them individually.
(I identified it super tentatively two years ago as a member of Podagrion, but as it is on an enormous, fruiting Ficus maxima in the garden, it is likely whatever the wasp is for that.)
Regardless of what it is, it is ridiculously charming, with its long ovipositor, festive antennae, the set of its back legs and swirl of colors. Not to mention those red eyes! It just feels special.
The wasp I see the most often though, and my favorite is Brachygastra mellifica, the Mexican Honey Wasp. These are wonderful, charming wasps that (in addition to producing honey) pollinate avocadoes and are beneficial to citrus groves. Also they are quite cute, I think, with their stripes and the yellow masks the younger ones have.
I have yet to see any of the other the more colourful species in that genus, they look stunning. I have however found a dead specimen of their host species, another large colourful wasp!
This wasp kept hovering on top of this ant for some reason:
I’ve also seen this species carrying katydid prey. Interestingly that species of katydid is non-native here, while the wasp is present as a non-native in Europe where the katydid is native!
This wasp is probably not very cute - especially if you are a honeybee - but definitely WOW - to be able to fly with this prey of nearly the same size.
Here’s one I found.
Where I live, these guys have a very sinister reputation as “blackjackets.” Supposedly, they are more aggressive than yellowjackets, but people often get this species mixed up with similar ones such as the actual blackjacket.
I’m not sure if it was dying or what, but this particular wasp let me pick it up without any aggression and I let it go after I got some photos. Northern Red-banded Yellowjacket
and spider wasps this obs from a shiny new iNatter
(will never forget the first time I saw a medium sized wasp … dragging one of our ‘tarantulas’ - but paralysed first
Velvet “ants” are wasps, and they are fuzzy! The females have no wings. Someone told me they can squeek when bothered, although I have never bothered one.
Evania appendiagaster, the Blue-Eyed Ensign Wasp, not only looks really cool with its long parts and startlingly blue eyes, it is also the enemy of my enemy. This is to say while I see them usually visiting plants in the garden, I also know they are parasitoids of cockroach eggs. Accordingly I like to greet them with smiles and welcome hellos.
Twice I have observed Trypoxylon, two different species I think, both still undetermined. Both times my mind has just been blown. In flight they are quite agile considering they are just so… extra.
Genus Polistes has some pretty species: This P. dominula and this P. fuscatus, both photographed this September, were both beautiful an interesting to watch:
Ichneumon wasps are some of the strangest ones out there. The tubes on their abdomens insert eggs into another larval insect in the bark of a tree or log.
