Written by Nicholas Hellmuth
On June 6, 2025
Wasps (and also Bees) as Pollinators of
wild Poinsettia Flowers, Euphorbia pulcherrima, Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala
Poinsettias Have Nectar in a Nectar Gland, physically Separate from the actual Flowers
Beetles, flies, moths in addition to butterflies, bats are also pollinators. I have seen ants wandering across flowers and leaving with pollen attached to their body. Same with grasshoppers (in the FLAAR Ethnobotanical Research Garden in Guatemala City). Obviously botanists and wasp entomologists know that wasps are also pollinators, but the general public tend to detest wasps to such a degree that they don’t consider them beneficial in any aspect.
All the wasp species that have made nests in front of my door have never attacked me even when I was doing close-up macro photography—because these wasps saw me every day and realized that I never bothered their nest.
Yes, there are vicious WARRIOR WASPS, including in Guatemala, the Northern Warrior Wasp, but if you don’t get too close to their nest they will not attack. We have photographed lots of their nests with telephoto lenses and now have a FLAAR Reports on them.
