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Small black thin insect interested in my Bee Hotel

NewBoy2NewBoy2 Posts: 1,813
in Wildlife gardening
I have seen a 1 inch long very thin black insect with an ants head and what looks like a second body shape sticking up from its back . There is also a lighted colour tail on the second body part. It was interested in the cells in my bee hotel that had recently been filled by a bee laying its eggs. I dont have a camera.Any thoughts as to what it could be and is it harmful to my bees
Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
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Posts

  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    Probably a sort of parasitic wasp. 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited June 2018
    If it is, I would imagine that, yes, it would be harmful to bees.
  • LauraRoslinLauraRoslin Posts: 496
    Yeah..... but we tend not to bury our young inside a cow for it to eat its way out.   Terry Pratchett called it an Icky Newman wasp and I agree with him.
    I wish I was a glow worm
    A glow worm's never glum
    Cos how can you be grumpy
    When the sun shines out your bum!
  • NewBoy2NewBoy2 Posts: 1,813
    PANSYFACE...THANK YOU VERY MUCH AS THAT WAS VERY HELPFUL. I DO APPRECIATE THAT ALL ANIMALS HAVE A PLACE IN THE CHAIN AND FROM OUR CONVERSATION IN 2016 YES I HAVE BEEN A VEGETARIAN SINCE THE 1990 S.

    Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
    Humans are generally quite harmful to the animals we eat, we kill them. I would choose a bee over a parasitic wasp any day! 
  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
    I agree completely and I see your point but the choice is bee or wasp and bees need a bit of TLC at the moment, again thanks to lovely humans!! We mess up the world every day so if we can help in any way I think we should. I would kill the wasp. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    And who knows which bit of the balance we upset when we think we know best and kill the wasp?  :/


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    When we hear about the reducing insect numbers the emphasis is always on bees. Is this due to commercial interest (ie money) in insects that are not part of our wildlife? Bees in commercial hives are not wildlife anymore than cows or dogs are. If we are serious about improving our wildlife situation we need to respect it all and not interfere with the food chain and insect life cycles



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    edited June 2018
    Bees are the cover stars of campaigns as they are cute and accessible. They certainly need our help, but so do infinite amounts of dull looking little black insects who are as vitally important, along with species such as parasitic wasps which all provide roles in an ecosystem. 
    Id suggest you carry on making efforts to help the wildlife as you are, but if nature takes charge of a decision, leave it to it. It’s been doing it a long time and is better at it than we are!
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Jellyfire said:
    Bees are the cover stars of campaigns as they are cute and accessible.
    The problem with this is that it has created a lot of biased thinking with regards to the rest of the ecosystem that surround bees. Most people don't like the idea of parasites and predators but they're all just as important as the bees and just as fascinating. Look at the whole host of cuckoo bees and flies that imitate bees. If one bee species goes extinct it could potentially take a lot of other species down with it.

    I see people posting pics of bees with mites asking if they should remove them as they assume they are parasites, but what they don't realise is how many species of mites rely on bees. Some mites play really important roles in cleaning bee nests for example. At the end of the season they have to hitch a lift with the new queens to ensure that they are carried to the new nest next year.

    It always reminds me of the case of the Californian Condor. In 1987 all the remaining 27 wild birds were caught and held in captivity for a breeding program to save the species. When they were captured they were treated for parasites but this caused the extinction of a parasite that was specific to the condor. People were so concerned about saving the condor from extinction but no one cared about the extinction of the parasite. We will never really know the knock on effect from that but it was a species that evolved along with the bird and that may be more significant than we think.


    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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