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Photo#47499
Five-banded Tiphiid Myzinum quinquecinctum - Myzinum quinquecinctum - male

Five-banded Tiphiid Myzinum quinquecinctum - Myzinum quinquecinctum - Male
Essex, Ontario, Canada
August 7, 2005
In 2005 they used Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), different plants. Later they again switched to Goldenrod (Solidago), as in the previous year. Photo cropped to show only a small part - about 75 wasps settled on the plant for the night.

Moved
Moved from Myzinum.

Species ID
If you know that this is quinquecinctus you ought to move it to species level. I don't do it because I know nothing about wasps.

Wow.
What a great documentation of aggregation behavior! Very nice to see another photographer here who is not afraid of wasps:-) Keep up the great work.

 
Little Nippers
Eric, wasps are harmless as long as one stays away from their nests. I have great shots of a Bald-faced (Vespula maculata)nest. Also some near misses with the tunnel diggers. Great Golden (Sphex ichneumoneus) had to be talked to. The worst was the Eastern Sand Wasp (Bembix americana). I confess after I caved in a second tunnel...I ran!
Which brings me to another subject. Is it possible male wasps are social because they have no defense mechanism, like a stinger, thus need 'group' protection?