Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: staceykcmu on August 25, 2011, 10:47:16 pm

Title: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: staceykcmu on August 25, 2011, 10:47:16 pm
Hello, I am not a beekeeper, but I observed a strange (disturbing) bee behavior on my camping trip in West Virginia and wanted to get some help, and sorry for cross-posting.

First, a bee was repeatedly stinging a green caterpillar. This appeared to attract at least 4 other bees who landed on the caterpillar. Their bodies seemed to be moving similar to how they move when collecting nectar from a flower. Shortly after, the caterpillar was cut in half and it seemed like the bees were consuming its interior juices.

At first, I thought they were simply defending an area that the caterpillar tresspassed. However, soon after, I saw the same thing happen to the same type of green caterpillar that was much larger in size. The caterpillar was so large that one bee was actually inside its carcass and appeared to be drinking its juice along with 4 other bees that were eating the caterpillar from the outside.

Is this normal bee behavior: bees coordinating an attack on a caterpillar and then eating it?

I am sure these were not wasps. They were bees...  :?
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: JP on August 25, 2011, 10:53:58 pm
I don't believe what you witnessed was honeybees but without pictures of what you saw its difficult to speculate. Perhaps some type of bee or better yet hornets or yellow jackets would be my best guess.


...JP
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: BlueBee on August 25, 2011, 11:29:48 pm
I have raised native giant silk moths here in Michigan and YES wasps and hornets do tear apart my caterpillars and eat them!  I have to cover my silk moths with wedding tulle to prevent that catastrophe.  I have never seen honey bees do it though. 

In the case of the wasps and hornets, they may be after the protein that is in the caterpillar’s tissues.  As for honeybees, I can’t say it’s impossible, but seems unlikely to me since they get their protein from pollen. 
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: CapnChkn on August 26, 2011, 02:14:24 am
Were the attacking insects Fuzzy?  Or were they smooth?
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: SerenaSYH on August 26, 2011, 03:51:27 am
lol, sound like a good 'ole yellowjacket to me! and no, that's not!! honeybees or bees...

Yellowjackets love tearing apart and hauling off their prey. They typically prey on fat rose slugs, juicy caterpillars and anything they can sting the bejeebers out of, including other poor honeybees.
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: FRAMEshift on August 26, 2011, 10:49:50 am

I am sure these were not wasps. They were bees...  :?


Not honeybees.  Some type of wasp.  Hornets and Yellowjackets are wasps.
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: iddee on August 26, 2011, 01:09:39 pm
Could you point to a link about that. I thought there were 3 categories. Bees, wasps, and hornets. Can you show me something where it says hornets are wasps? Maybe I can learn something today.
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: caticind on August 26, 2011, 01:26:00 pm
Could you point to a link about that. I thought there were 3 categories. Bees, wasps, and hornets. Can you show me something where it says hornets are wasps? Maybe I can learn something today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornet)

"Hornets are the largest eusocial wasps..."

The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant.  Hornets, yellowjackets, and paper wasps are all in the family Vespidae (paper wasps slightly less related to the other two).
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: Finski on August 26, 2011, 03:58:12 pm
.
Honeybee can sting only once. Then its sting attach to victim like a harpoon. Then the bee will be dead after some hours.

Wasp's hunting weapon is meant to use continuously.

1.000.000 % sure that they are  wasps.
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: iddee on August 26, 2011, 04:25:27 pm
OK. I think my mistake was thinking of paper wasps, rather than just wasps, as not including hornets.
I stand corrected.
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: greenbtree on August 27, 2011, 02:53:53 am
Never to old or experienced to learn something new.  Thank goodness!  Think how boring it would be knowing everything!

JC
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: Finski on August 27, 2011, 07:02:11 pm
.
Most of people in my country  do not make difference with honeybee and wasp.

 
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: Michael Bush on August 27, 2011, 11:09:36 pm
All of the cartoon pictures you've seen of bees are a caricature of a yellow jacket.  Bees are not yellow and black, nor are they shiny.  Yellow jackets are.  Yellow jackets eat "meat" including caterpillars.  Bees do not.
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: Finski on August 28, 2011, 09:23:27 am
.
Main food of wasp is aphids. 

once I saw very big brown aphids on oak leaves.. Wasp went very close to big aphids but they did not react on them.
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: hvac professor on August 30, 2011, 05:12:04 pm
today i was walking out of the garage and a yellow wasp (i am assuming a wasp??) was coming in with a smooth green worm in the grasp.
That instantly reminded me of this post. I live in upstate ny and observed this today
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: jtow on August 30, 2011, 07:27:10 pm
Just a note on something I read once concerning honeybee stingers. The stinger did not stick in an insect that she stings thereby enabling her to sting multiple times, but would stick in a mammals skin however, and so pull out thereby killing the bee.
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: BlueBee on August 30, 2011, 10:53:45 pm
I was kind of wondering the same things as jtow reported above, but I don’t know for sure.  When a bee tries to sting my rubber gloves the stinger doesn’t stick and the bee doesn’t die.

Finski, are the wasps after the honey dew from the Aphids, or do they eat the aphids themselves?
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: Finski on August 31, 2011, 12:11:06 am

Finski, are the wasps after the honey dew from the Aphids, or do they eat the aphids themselves?


they eate a whole aphid. When wasps notice a bush which has much aphids, it will be cleaned in couple of days.

When I am walking in the woods inthe evening and it is very silent, high on branches wood is singing. They are numerous wasps which are harvesting  aphids pastures.

Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: FRAMEshift on September 01, 2011, 09:40:52 am
During August we had lots of large dark blue wasps in the area around our house.  I noticed that their preferred food was very large locusts, about 4 times the size of the wasps.  The wasps were flying around carrying these huge locusts, but had to make frequent stops because they were so heavy.
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: caticind on September 01, 2011, 01:04:34 pm
Around here I have seen GIANT cicada-killer wasps, yellow and black, 2-3 inches long.  They are apparently a ground-dwelling solitary species that goes after large insect prey, esp cicadas when those are available.

Good thing they don't choose to attack bees.   :shock:
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: FRAMEshift on September 01, 2011, 06:47:42 pm
GIANT cicada-killer wasps, yellow and black, 2-3 inches long. 

Now we know why the cicadas only come out every 13 years.   :shock:
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: stjamesalmost on October 15, 2019, 02:47:05 pm
Wow  this is like fort Knox!    Anyway I was searching small bees that kill caterpillars,  frogs and praying mantas  when I came on this site.  I am 67 years old  ---- spend lots of time in the great outdoors all my life and came across a small swarm of small bees (maybe small yellow jackets) bees --- they look like sweat bees (about the same size ---small) and they were stinging and attacking a  large black caterpillar.   They kept at it for 2 days, until it was gone. I watched every chance I could.  Never saw anything like it.   Then  two days later they are  swarming a  small green frog.  Today I was in my yard talking to a neighbor, when I noticed a medium sized praying mantas  ----- I pointed it out  to him and  we noticed the same small bees  attacking it and stinging it ----it's eyes ---- under its wings ----the mantas tried to grab at them but they were persistent -----I moved the mantas, shaking off the bees .  He is also an outdoor person and had never seen or heard of bees attacking a mantas.   they are small BEES or small yellow jackets ----look like sweat bees!!!!!    Just thought you would like to know   Always something NEW  to learn!!!!!!!
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: paus on October 15, 2019, 03:00:52 pm
Just a thought.  Many people call the black striped  paper wasp yellow jackets,  Yellow jackets nest mostly in the ground,  They are also a paper wasp but they build a wall around their nest, very similar to a hornet nest and they are about 1/2 the size of other wasp that builds under your cornice . In our locale, the larger wasp is called "Guina " wasp.
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: beesonhay465 on October 15, 2019, 11:57:32 pm
about honey bees stinging more than once they can certainly sting other insects more than once . in my hive if the drones are not persuaded to leave they are stung .don't believe they die after only stinging once.or at all. around here if you eat a burger at an out side cafe in the fall you better watch where you bite there may be a  yellow jacket or hornet sharing your burger.
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: Beeboy01 on October 21, 2019, 05:56:07 pm
I saw a hornet take down and dismember a full sized dragon fly this year. The hornet knocked it out of the air and chewed about half of the thorax off with two wings still attached. Only took about three minutes from start to finish. It was an impressive demonstration of just how aggressive a full sized hornet can be.
   I've heard that a large yellow jacket nest will attack and destroy a small bee hive in the fall for protein from the brood. 
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: BeeMaster2 on October 21, 2019, 06:48:48 pm
   I've heard that a large yellow jacket nest will attack and destroy a small bee hive in the fall for protein from the brood. 
Last year I lost a couple of hives to YJs. I killed hundreds of them to protect my hives. This year I have very few YJs here. My DynatrapS kills lots of them.
Ask Kathy P if YJs kill honey bee hives? She knows all too well how bad they can bee.
Jim Altmiller
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: salvo on October 21, 2019, 06:55:06 pm
Hi Folks,

It appears that a likely nearsighted wasp mistook a coral snake for a caterpillar.

https://www.foxnews.com/science/florida-venomous-coral-snake-eats-rat-snake-wasp-video

Sal
Title: Re: bees attacking and eating green caterpillars??
Post by: BAHBEEs on October 22, 2019, 11:41:07 am
.
Honeybee can sting only once. Then its sting attach to victim like a harpoon. Then the bee will be dead after some hours.

Wasp's hunting weapon is meant to use continuously.

1.000.000 % sure that they are  wasps.

Note for accuracy's sake...a Honey bee does not face the same limitations when stinging other insects.  It is only when they sting thinks like big meaty mammals or similar that they get stuck in and face a death sentence for attacking.  They can and will repeatedly sting say a wood carver bee that lands on the hive porch.  I have always attributed it to the meaty texture and thick skin of us mammals.  Other insects they can nail over and over!