This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

Taking a drink from the moisture that gathered on the surface of this tropical plant, this paper wasp builds clusters of hexagonal paper cells. Mixing masticated wood pulp with adhesive saliva, these paper nest cells act as larval nesting chambers for the young wasps. The Chinese inventor of paper was legend to have been inspired by observing these wasps chewing bark. Other members of the Vespid family, are potters, building their nests from mud and saliva.

Vespid Paper Wasp Photos & Pictures

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

This image illustrates how important it is to have the right chemical scent. Members of an individual colony possess the same “nest odor.” Even members of the same species found stumbling into a neighboring colony will not possess the correct genetic and environmentally determined odor and will generally be attacked as an intruder. These Weaver Ants exhibit refined societal coordination and create advanced camouflaged structure. They build nests by pulling together leaves and gluing them together with silk excreted from accommodating larval ants.

Weaver Ants, Oecophylla spp. Photos & Pictures

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

Wild bee honeycombs are constructed from hanging galleries of hexagonal wax cells. The outer drapes are most often used for honey storage whereas the internal hangings are more often used to rear the young bees. This beautiful natural wax comb was hand-harvested in Indonesia at the price of a few defensive stings. Honey is formulated from worker bee saliva and plant nectar which used as food storage for the hive. Humans have an exceptionally long history of harvesting honey and later in developing hive systems to ease in the cultivation of this highly treasured substance.

Wild Honey Bee Comb Photos & Pictures

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

These paper wasps from Indonesia are capable of delivering a painful sting in defense of their paper-chewed nests. Unlike some bees which generally lose their life after delivering their sting, wasps have a barbless stinger they can use on multiple occasion. A stinger is a retractable, modified egg-laying devise known as an ovipositor. Wasp larvae are fed prechewed caterpillars by adult wasps who receive a drop of saliva in return. Their wings are folded lengthwise over body at rest as they assume a threatening alertness to all nearby activities including insect photography. These wasps exhibit presocial cooperation between groups of fertile females. Their nests are open nest with clearly exposed larval chambers.

Paper Wasp, Mischocyttarus spp. Photos & Pictures

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

Thread-waisted wasps are prolific caterpillar hunters. Paralyzed caterpillars are used as food for their young while they develop in sand burrows. This mating pair are solitary wasps who have a liking for flower pollen. They were found in the Mojave Desert in California. Wasp females sting with their modified egg laying apparatus and the junction between the thorax and abdomen exhibits considerable constriction.

Thread-Waisted Wasp Photos & Pictures

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

These giant hunting ants are a formidable sight with an even more formidable sting. This one is carrying a twig in its massive jaws. Various Amazonian tribes use these hunting ants in puberty ceremonies. Numerous ants are weaved into a wicker framework and their stinging abdomens are pressed into the chests of those participating. The smaller of two similar hunting ant species named Panaponera clavata indeed produces a horrific sting.

Giant Hunting Ants, Dinoponera grandis Photos & Pictures

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

Ants have adapted to take advantage of many different food types. These ants, from Brazil, are carefully harvesting the bounty of seeds that have fallen to the forest floor from the tree canopy far above. The ant has long been viewed as an industrious worker, busily building food reserves for leaner times.

Formicid Ants Harvesting Photos & Pictures

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

These Ecuadorian ants are harvesting the sweet honeydew secretions of larval treehoppers in return for protection against other insect predators. In this arrangement, ant, larva and adult treehoppers all existed in harmony. Some ants actually corral and rear aphids for the purpose of cultivating their honeydew supplies. The biblical food known as mana that fed the Israelites as they trekked through the Sinai Desert was probably a honeydew secretion.

Formicid Ants Milking Treehopper Larva Photos & Pictures

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

Ants are important scavengers. They are responsible for recycling huge amounts of organic material from fallen fruit to this unfortunate butterfly. Ants help to keep the enviroments free of rotting material. These ants, from Brazil, keep the forest floor clean and were able to handle this fallen butterfly in a matter of a few hours.

Formicid Ant Scavengers Photos & Pictures

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

These rusty orange tropical Daceton ants made their nests in trees. Guards were posted at the entrance with large opened jaws warning against intrusion of any kind. Although not the largest insect in the forest, their shear numbers and coordinated gathering activities make ants the most conspicuous insects in the forest. Ants are included in fables and carry symbolic associations with productivity and investing their time wisely in gathering supplies.

Formicid Ants Big-Headed: Daceton spp. Photos & Pictures