Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Plant It and They Will Come part 6, 1 by CatMint20906

CatMint20906 wrote:
Would love to see a zebra swallowtail here!!

Got a couple great IDs/confirmations from Flapdoodle this morning.

In the photo on the left, in addition to the carpenter bee and the honey bee, is a flower wasp in the family of Scoliidae:
"Scoliid wasps are solitary parasitoids of scarab beetle larvae. Female scoliids burrow into the ground in search of these larvae and then use their sting to paralyze them. They will sometimes excavate a chamber and move the paralyzed beetle larva into it before depositing an egg. Scoliid wasps act as important biocontrol agents, as many of the beetles they parasitize are pests, including the Japanese beetle. Male scoliids patrol territories, ready to mate with females emerging from the ground. Adult wasps may be minor pollinators of some plants and can he found on many wildflowers in the late summer."
[HYPERLINK@en.wikipedia.org]
So glad to have them in my yard, feeding on all the scarab beetle grubs, including Japanese beetles!!

The other one appears to be a Sphex pensylvanicus, Great Black Wasp! Hurray!
The larvae feed on katydids that the parent paralyzes and leaves for them in a nest.

So glad I have these biocontrol guys in my yard!!