Wasp Nests? Bee Hives? Mole Holes?

A molehill (or mole-hill, mole mound) is a conical mound of loose soil raised by small burrowing mammals, including moles, but also similar animals such as mole-rats, marsupial moles and voles. They are often the only sign to indicate the presence of the animal. Molehills are waste material from digging or repairing burrows, and so are usually found where the animal is establishing new burrows, or where existing ones are damaged (for example by the weight of grazing livestock). Where moles burrow beneath the roots of trees or shrubs, the roots support the tunnel, and molehills are less common.

The majority of wasp species (well over 100,000 species) are “parasitic” (technically known as parasitoids), and the ovipositor is used simply to lay eggs, often directly into the body of the host. The most familiar wasps belong to Aculeata, a “division” of Apocrita, whose ovipositors are adapted into a venomous sting, though many aculeate species do not sting. Aculeata also contains ants and bees, and many wasps are commonly mistaken for bees, and vice-versa. In a similar respect, insects called “velvet ants” (the family Mutillidae) are technically wasps.