I just finished looking through Dave Green's photos of pollinators. BTW
Dave, they are excellent.  Thank you for your time and for sharing them with
the rest of us.

I noticed a paper wasp in the goldenrod collection.  This is exactly how I
remember them.  When I was young we called them long leg wasps because of
the hanging down of their rear legs during flight.  It was paper wasps that
introduced me to the stinging world of insects, an intro I will never
forget.

For the past 5 or 6 years I have noticed a change in these wasps.  They are
no longer that brown, copper color as seen in Dave's photo.  They now are
dark will thin yellow bands on their abdomen and the their legs are also
yellow.  I don't see any of the brown variety at all.  This change is
noticeable in an area of at least 60 miles around me.  I don't know if this
color change is a different race, or subspecies or a genetic mutation.  They
exhibit the exact same characteristics as the brown variety in both behavior
and nesting.  I really don't know what caused this change, as I cannot see
any benefits to the color change, but I do find it interesting that a change
has occurred in a relatively short time.  I realize this does not have much
to do with honeybees, but I thought some folks would be interested.

Thanks again Dave for the photos.

Ron Bogansky
Kutztown, (eastern) PA, USA



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