Wasps attacking mantids?

[Conor10]

I have a bit of a problem with some wasps attacking mantids in the area I live, I found a large female that a wasp was circulating and put it in a arboreal enclosure I had. I saw them tearing one small mantis apart that I was too late to find. I have been shooting them with a suppressed air rifle (because powder burners have too expensive ammo for it and are wayyyy overkill) and have shot about 40 so far that collect mud in one muddy area. Haven’t found the nest yet. Any Idea what specie they are. Will take a pic next time I see one. For anyone interested in the shooting aspect of it the longest shot on one was 47 yards. Just a little off topic.

 

[MrGhostMantis]

I have a bit of a problem with some wasps attacking mantids in the area I live, I found a large female that a wasp was circulating and put it in a arboreal enclosure I had. I saw them tearing one small mantis apart that I was too late to find. I have been shooting them with a suppressed air rifle (because powder burners have too expensive ammo for it and are wayyyy overkill) and have shot about 40 so far that collect mud in one muddy area. Haven’t found the nest yet. Any Idea what specie they are. Will take a pic next time I see one. For anyone interested in the shooting aspect of it the longest shot on one was 47 yards. Just a little off topic.

Maybe mud daubers?

 

[The Snark]

Hoping someone weighs in with some info here. I see this happen a lot. Wasps randomly attacking other animals. Spiders I understand as that is part of their life cycle but they often attack other things. Feeding or what? Why would they lay into beetles?

 

[Conor10]

They appear to be going in a line over a cluster of trees and I’m trying my best to find out where they are going. I haven’t seen too many lately. I have seen two kinds, one blue one and one yellow one, they both have a strange tiny line connecting the abdomen to the thorax.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

It's not unusual for social wasps like hornets and yellowjackets to prey on mantids, but did you really see wasps with a blue color attacking mantids? Generally blue wasps are solitary mud daubers, cricket hunters or spider wasps that prey on specific insects or spiders and nothing else, and I don't know of any in the US that feed on mantids.

If you just see normal black and yellow hornets/yellowjackets tearing apart mantids but you're killing all sorts of wasps that sounds like pretty misdirected insect violence, though I find the concept of killing wasps just because you see them eating mantids pretty silly too. Mantids being eaten by wasps isn't a "problem", they're just being part of the ecosystem.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

Hoping someone weighs in with some info here. I see this happen a lot. Wasps randomly attacking other animals. Spiders I understand as that is part of their life cycle but they often attack other things. Feeding or what? Why would they lay into beetles?

Social wasps like hornets and yellowjackets aren't parasitoids that lay eggs on their prey, they're generalist predators/scavengers that will gather pretty much anything made of meat to bring back to their larvae.

If you mean that you've specifically seen spider-hunting species like mud daubers attacking beetles idk why that would happen.

 

[Beetles]

It's not unusual for social wasps like hornets and yellowjackets to prey on mantids, but did you really see wasps with a blue color attacking mantids? Generally blue wasps are solitary mud daubers, cricket hunters or spider wasps that prey on specific insects or spiders and nothing else, and I don't know of any in the US that feed on mantids.

If you just see normal black and yellow hornets/yellowjackets tearing apart mantids but you're killing all sorts of wasps that sounds like pretty misdirected insect violence, though I find the concept of killing wasps just because you see them eating mantids pretty silly too. Mantids being eaten by wasps isn't a "problem", they're just being part of the ecosystem.

I agree, it is a bit silly to kill wasp for eating mantids.

 

[The Snark]

Social wasps like hornets and yellowjackets aren't parasitoids that lay eggs on their prey, they're generalist predators/scavengers that will gather pretty much anything made of meat

So they're like the home team winning the cup and the coach taking them all out to McDouchalds. "Hey Doug, you do know 'all beef' includes the testicles and arseholes, right?"

 

[Conor10]

The blue wasps I have seen attack mantids and orbweavers. The yellow ones seem much more aggressive, there are not a lot of mantids in my area this year and that’s my kinda dumb reasoning for killing them. I could be wrong and I just need to let them do their thing. I think someone misread that they attack beetles