Search results for "Nesting season"

Female–female attraction influences nest establishment in the digger wasp Stizus continuus (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae)

2008

Although digger wasps are good models for the study of nest site selection, the behaviour of females in relation to time of nest establishment has rarely been considered despite this being the key to discrimination between substrate availability-based and a female attraction-based selection. We carried out a study on nest establishment by the digger wasp Stizus continuus (Klug), giving to all nests dug by the wasps both spatial (nearest neighbour distance to nests, proximity of vegetation, soil hardness) and temporal (day of excavation) attributes. Stizus continuus females dug more nests under bush edges, where the soil was much softer. There was no tendency for females to maximize distance…