Solitary Wasps

While social wasps, like hornets and yellow jackets, garner most of the publicity (most of it negative), the vast majority of wasp species, including digger wasps, spider wasps, and mud-daubers, are solitary. Elegant in appearance and distinctive in...

Kevin M. O'Neill is Associate Professor of Entomology at Montana State University-Bozeman. He is coauthor with Howard Ensign Evans of The Natural History and Behavior of North American Beewolves, also from Cornell.

The book is the first general survey of the subject in more than 25 years... Excellent book, well organized, well written, readable, informative.

Kevin O'Neill's book provides an ideal insight into the intricacies of wasp behaviour, whether for a beginner seeking a project or for an expert look for solid comparative analysis. For the beginner it instills all the necessary enthusiasm and explains very clearly why solitary wasps are so easy and so rewarding to study. For professionals it is beautifully laid out to cover the diversity of foraging and nesting strategies across all the groups that are included.... There is plenty of food for thought here, and plenty to spur on new investigations.... Add this book to your shelves and enjoy the world of the solitary wasps.

The subject of Kevin O'Neill's excellent account are solitary wasps... Many of the topics discussed are illustrated by weird and wonderful case studies... Altogether, this is a well-written summary of what is known (and also what is not known) about a heterogeneous group of wasps that has intrigued biologists for many decades.

Sue Hubbell:

This is a well-written summary of what we know—and don't know—about the kinds of wasps that have fascinated naturalists as well known as Henri Fabre and as little-known as my next-door neighbor, whose questions about ground-nesting wasps I could answer after reading this book. It will answer your questions, too.