A special visitor

Megascolia maculata flavifrons (female)

Elise and I are privileged to have a rather unusual visitor to our garden, namely a mammoth wasp, or a Megascolia maculata flavifrons (also known as Scolia flavifrons). I believe that this is the largest wasp in Europe.

And it really does live up to its "mammoth" name, for it is at least 5cm long. In fact, I have spotted two individuals, the larger one at 5cm or more and a smaller one that is perhaps 4.5cm long. Both of them are impressive creatures.

Both of them are also females. The body of the female mammoth wasp is black with large yellow markings. She has strong wings, tinged with amber, resembling the skin of an onion, showing crimson in the variegated light. Her legs are coarse, with a knotted appearance and are very hairy. She has a huge body and a powerful head, which is well protected by a hard skull. Her flight is quite low and is surprisingly quiet for such a large insect. The male mommoth wasp, which I have not yet seen, is less colourful and of finer frame.

The mammoth wasp does not attack humans (no European wasps do, except out of self-defence, so stop waving your arms about). Instead, it hunts out the larvae of the rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes nasicornis), which it paralyses with its sting in order to lay a single egg in the beetle's body. When it emerges, the larva of Megascolia then devours that of the Oryctes.

Size comparison with ordinary wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

And here's a little video (the quality is far better than the preview image).

You can see more unusual visitors to our garden here.

David Neale

Picudo Rojo, the Red Palm Weevil

On several occasions recently, I have noticed red palm weevils (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) flying across the garden. I have come across one or two dead ones on the tiles around the house, too, and just a couple of days ago I was able to capture a live one. I took it to La Torre garden centre to confirm that it was, indeed, a Picudo Rojo. This being the case, I bought some insecticide suitable for dealing with possible attacks by such creatures in young palms.

The insecticide that was recommended is called Insecticida Llanero, sold in a bottle of 100ml.This is different to that which I have been using up until now, which was made by Bayer and sold as a set of four individual doses of 2ml (Insecticida polivalente, with the specific announcement, "Protege las palmeras").

I have already been spraying the one young palm in our garden every few weeks for several months, as I was aware of the dangers of the Picudo Rojo, so hopefully our palm is relatively safe. If you are worried about your own palm(s)—and you should be, for the Picudo Rojo is a huge threat in this area—get some preventative spray, such as one of those mentioned above, and use it on each palm, thoroughly soaking the trunk, leaves and centre of the plant every ten days or so.

For more information (in English) on the Picudo Rojo, see this page in the Gardening in Spain website. The information dates from mid-2009, but is still relevant, though now it is thought better to bury infected palms at a depth of at least two metres, rather than burning them.

An interesting film, showing the unsightly, monstrous larvae of the Picudo Rojo can be seen here.

David Neale

Garden Rubbish

Since the election of the PP (Partido Popular) to power in Guardamar, the collection of garden rubbish in El Raso has been painfully inadequate. Rotting cuttings, branches, bags of garden debris and other unpleasantness have been allowed to build up at previously designated collection points. The once almost faithfully regular Wednesday morning collections ceased as soon as the PSOE lost their hold on the Ayuntamiento and the PP took over. Indeed, as far as I am aware, since that time, garden rubbish has been collected on just two occasions!

Now a notice has appeared on the rubbish bin adjacent to the collecting point for our community. No doubt similar notices have appeared elsewhere in El Raso. The notice is in both Spanish and English (well, a sort of English, though it looks to me as though Google had a lot to do with it). It basically states that, as from 1 October, garden rubbish will no longer be collected from the usual collecting points and that, instead, it must be brought to the "municipal plot," which appears from the GoogleMaps screenshot accompanying the notice to be opposite the ruined finca.

Click on the small image accompanying this entry to see a larger version of the notice.

Dare I suggest a new name for the Partido Popular? I hasten to add that it will entail no change to their PP logo: Prunings Prohibited.

David Neale