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Photo#1109626
Mating potter wasps - Eumenes - male - female

Mating potter wasps - Eumenes - Male Female
Highland Park, Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA
July 16, 2015
Size: female 15 mm, male 14 mm
This shot shows the antenna-hooking behavior.

I found these guys while picking raspberries, but I didn't have my camera with me. So I plucked the raspberry leaf they were on -- thorns and all -- and carried it back to my house a couple of blocks away.

The male was nibbling gently on the back of the female's thorax the whole time. And he also kept up a steady tapping rhythm (~~90/min) with his antennae on hers, either both at once or alternating left and right sides. The male has a little extra orange hook tip on each antenna. When I looked at the photos, I discovered that, with each tap, he was hooking that tip under her antenna.

They occasionally (once a minute or so) stretched their abdomens out to a ~45-degree angle. Size measurements reflect length in that position.

Observed for 12 min total before I jostled the leaf & they flew off.

Images of this individual: tag all
Mating potter wasps - Eumenes - male - female Mating potter wasps - Eumenes - male - female Mating potter wasps - Eumenes - male - female Mating potter wasps - Eumenes - male - female Mating potter wasps - Eumenes - male - female

Moved
Moved from Eumenes fraternus.

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