Cerceris Wasp Bio-Surveillance for Emerald Ash Borer -- 2012 Season Update

Although catching Cerceris Wasps can be challenging,
finding a Buprestid Beetle in the net is a great reward! 

We need your help!  The more people we have at each of the Cerceris colonies, the more beetles we catch!  That’s the secret to our success, so far.  Our goal is to collect 50 beetles at each colony so that we can assess the diversity of species now.  When Emerald Ash Borer colonizes the property, not only will we lose the ash trees but we will also see changes in the beetle population, too!  More importantly though, this project is really fun!  We need your help but don’t miss out on the fun.  


We finished Litchfield P.S. Plumb Hill Ball Field today with a total of 50 beetles, exactly!  On Tuesday there were 4 of us and we caught 25 beetles in two hours.  We finished this site in just a few days because we collected 50% of the goal in one day!


St. Anthony’s cemetery has 38 beetles so far, which means one more day’s worth of work will finish it off.  We’ve had one person at this colony by themselves for 3 days.  Those individuals caught 10 – 13 beetles each day.  We've almost finished with this colony!  Can you help us finish this colony tomorrow?  

Wamogo’s colony just woke up around Monday, but we have 13 beetles collected so far.  Three people caught 13 beetles in one day!  The pitcher’s mound is the place to be at Wamogo with over 20 nests.  Then there are the other nests in the rest of the diamond!  This site could be finished quickly with just a little bit of your help!

Morris Town Beach also woke up on Monday but we have not made it to that location yet, therefore no beetles have been collected at that site.  This colony is closest to some of our best ash stands on the property; therefore it is vital that this site not get put to the last colony for the season.  We can’t miss the big push.  We need you here!  

Please be part of this project.  As you can see if you want to part of the fun, you will need to be part of it before we finish the season without you.  

Contact me to let me know when and where you want to catch wasps and collect beetles.

Cerceris Wasp Biosurveillance of Emerald Ash Borer -- 2011 Initial Results

Cerceris fumipennis with Emerald Ash Borer
Photo by Phillip Careless
www.cerceris.info

It was a great day of catching Cerceris Wasps and collecting Buprestid Beetles at Morris Town Beach Ball Field.  Olivia Riccio and Becca Solnit helped capture 16 beetles in 1 hour and 30 minutes.  There were a total 36 nests in this colony.  The weather was mild at approximately 80 degrees Fahrenheit, mostly cloudy sky, and a gentle occasional breeze from the southwest at 0 to 2 mph.

Cerceris Wasp Biosurveillance of Emerald Ash Borer -- 2011 Initial Results

Locations of Cerceris Wasp colonies (Red Markers) used as biosurveillance tool for
Emerald Ash Borer at White Memorial Foundation, Litchfield & Morris, CT, USA.
Google Earth Image 

We identified 4 colonies of Cerceris Wasps in close proximity to the property.  The wasp watchers have been  steadily collecting beetles (42 from all of the colonies) that the wasps have been bringing back to their nests.  The wasps become active every sunny day around 11:00 a.m. EST with their orientation flights around the nest entrance.  Very soon after leaving they start bring back beetles to their nests, where the wasp watchers are waiting to catch and release the wasp unharmed but leaving a beetle in the bottom of the insect net.  The beetles are sent to our state's coordinator for this project Claire Rutledge at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.