Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!sumax!quick!amc-gw!sigma!uw-nsr!dean
From: dean@uw-nsr.UUCP (Dean Pentcheff)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Strange Bee-Like Creatures - What Are They?
Message-ID: <1572@uw-nsr.UUCP>
Date: 9 Dec 89 07:33:41 GMT
References: <8216@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Reply-To: dean@uw-nsr.UUCP (Dean Pentcheff)
Followup-To: sci.bio
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of California, Berkeley   Department of Zoology
Lines: 15
Summary: Parasitic wasps

In article <8216@ttidca.TTI.COM> jackson@ttidca.tti.com (Dick Jackson) writes:
>I pruned our plum tree last weekend and cut off a dead branch about 8 cm
>in diameter. I cut it into log sized chunks and set them down....
>....a black bee-like
>creature emerged and flew around.  It was almost 2 cm long (I would
>estimate) and was almost shapeless (like a large furry raisin).  Later a
>yellow version came out of the log, and flew in ever higher circles till
>it vanished.  The yellow one was thinner and had a definite waist.  We saw
>about four black ones altogether, they mostly stayed on the ground and
>seemed torpid as if they had been hibernating.

Sounds like overwintering parasitic wasps that you upset.  Can't tell
you much more offhand, but check an entomology textbook.  These guys
have some of the strangest life cycles around.

-Dean	(dean@violet.berkeley.edu)