Invasive Wasp Alert

1 November 2012 - 1:49pm — kallakat

I am a ‘wasp-student’ doing a survey of invasive wasps in s Africa.

Would it be possible to please put the brochure on Ispot? (click below, to see it full size) It has my contact details on it, but alternatively observations on Ispot will be great.

Ideally, I am looking for dead samples of the wasps, but photos are also fine as long as it is possible to positively ID the wasps from them.

I have to determine the distribution of the species in South Africa and thus any sightings will be of great help! We know they occur throughout Stellenbosch and of course also in Cape Town, but not much is known about the rest of the country. By looking at student’s insect collections, we know that the wasps occur along the coast until possibly Plettenberg Bay. These records are, however, not 100% trustworthy and therefore nothing is certain.

I have just received a sample from Paarl, but we do not know for example, whether the wasps have crossed the mountains towards Worcester or Robertson yet. The wasps could become a significant pest species in our country, and therefore we need all the help we can get in spotting them.

Lastly, I would like to warn everyone that the wasps have a nasty sting to them and a few people might also be severely allergic to them. Care should thus be taken when collecting the wasps.

Please use the tag 'Wasp Alert' to add your observations to the carousel below.

Observations to date:

To see a selection of other wasps, click here: http://ispot.org.za/species_dictionary/Apocrita

Thanks for your time and effort in helping me.

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