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Mark McCaughrean
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social
2 giorni fa

A tale of two wasps & two moths.

First, a very pretty jewel-like cuckoo wasp in the Hedychrum nobile complex.

It was moving quickly, so the shots aren't as crisp as I'd like.

As pretty as it is though, it's a parasite, & its main victim is ...

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📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
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A small wasp seen side on on some yellow goldenrod flowers. The wasp is dimpled all over and metallic-coloured with many specular highlights. The head is a blue-green with black antennae and black compound eyes, the first half of the thorax is yellow-red, while the second half is blue. The abdomen is reddish, while the legs are blue and green. The wings are clear dark amber. The same wasp seen in half profile from above, with its head buried in the flowers. The head, thorax, and legs are seen in more detail. The same wasp again, seen from the side and above. The strong dimpling all over the head, thorax, and abdomen are clearly seen, as are variations in the blue, green, red, and yellow colours, which depend a little on the lighting angle. The antennae are also seen to be coloured from this angle, with some green-blue. The wings are also glittering with iridescence. Another picture in half profile from the front, slightly blurred.

#photography #macrophotography #bugoftheday #heidelberg #insectsofmastodon #backgardenentomology

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Commenti (4)

Mark McCaughrean
13 ore fa

... this wasp, feeding from the same bunch of goldenrod flowers.

It's a sand tailed digger wasp (Cerceris arenaria; 🇩🇪 Sandknotenwespe).

The H. nobile wasps sneak into their nests & lay an egg. It hatches into a larva before the C. arenaria egg – it eats the stored food & destroys the C. arenaria.

Nice 😬

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📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
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A side on view of a wasp hanging from some yellow goldenrod flowers. The wasp is predominantly black with many small dimples all over. There are some small yellow marks on the head, and several more on the thorax. The abdomen has a smaller section with yellow patches, then the main tergites have yellow bands, five in total. These are broken, but extend to the underside. The legs are yellow and black, the antennae are dark brown to black, and the wings are clear medium amber. The large compound eyes have some grey patterns, and the wasp is covered in fine light hairs. The same wasp seen from above and to the side, showing many of the same features.
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Petra van Cronenburg
13 ore fa

@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social I like them. In sunshine, they are looking like jewels.

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