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Are wasps eating borage seeds?

london, United Kingdom Gb

It looks like they are, i've seen one wrestling with a borage seed on the ground, and another actually went into the (ex)flower head and pulled out the seed that was in there..does anyone know? I watched the wrestling one yesterday and it was hilarious to watch but i wasn't sure whether it was eating it or sucking out the nutritious centre. Does anyone know? many thanks xx


On plant borage officinalis


Answers

 

How interesting. I dont really know what they eat, except that they feed their young on things like caterpillars, spiders, flies, maggots, ants etc., anything meaty, and I've certainly seen a wasp wrestling with a bee and then carrying the dead bee off, presumably for mastication and then feeding. I've also seen them chewing on thin wood fence panels, but they use that to make their nests with.
I've also noticed they really like chewed up grass, the kind you get stuck in the mower if its a hover type - they hang around the mower later in the year when you've just cut the grass. And obviously, they like fruit, but seeds, lord knows.

14 Jul, 2009

 

thanks for the reply, i thought it was odd. maybe they think it's an insect 9the seed) or they may be chewing the shell off perhaps for wood substitute? i don't know...cheers x

15 Jul, 2009

 

I wonder if like some Viola species, Borage has ant attractant oils on the seed coat to aid dispersal? The wasps being close relatives might be pulling them off the plant even before they hit the ground?

19 Jul, 2009

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