@friesen5000 Some wasps drill through hardened, dried out wood in search of beetle larvae to stab and "entrust" with their offspring... a Petri dish, with its thin wobbly soft plastic walls, seems small potatoes for a parasitoid wasp!
Most impressive is that Eupelmus messene measures only 2-3 millimeters.
#wasplove

A Pteromalidae parasitoid wasp sits still next to a ground crab spider, Xysticus sp. Thanks to Adriano Cazzuoli at #iNaturalist am now alerted to the possibility that this wasp is a parasite of the spider’s eggs. To top it off, the spider has predated upon a smaller wasp of similar colouration, Pteromalidae-like in shape, and is holding on its jaws; and between there’s a whitish maggot or pupa of perhaps a small hymenopteran.

Pteromalidae wasp: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/180338617

Xysticus sp. spider: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/180338944

#SpiderSunday #Hymenoptera #Aranea #spiders #wasplove #wasps #entomology #insects

@eLife

#wasplove clearly!

“Decoding the genetic and chemical basis of sexual attractiveness in parasitic wasps” by Sun et al. 2023 https://elifesciences.org/articles/86182

#Hymenoptera #wasps #entomology #insects #parasitoids

@twizzt

Plenty of blue in the insect world:

Chrysis inaequalis, a cuckoo wasp with metallic blue and red colouration http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/92829547

And yeah, the blue is likely from refraction.

#iNaturalist #wasps #Hymenoptera #entomology #insects #wasplove #Dalmatia

@nev
Wow what a scene. Moulting renders insects vulnerable. A while back I witnessed how a hornet Vespula germanica chewed on the soft wings of a moulting Egyptian bird grasshoper, Anacridium aegyptium http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/91574142

I too wonder why insects have such a weak point. Only social insects, who protect each other, are spared. Others have to dig themselves into crevices, like solitary bees, yet are still subject to predation.

#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #Orthoptera #predation #entomology #insects #locusts #wasps #wasplove

@nev
Wow what a scene. Moulting renders insects vulnerable. A while back I witnessed how a hornet Vespula germanica chewed on the soft wings of a moulting Egyptian bird grasshoper, Anacridium aegyptium http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/91574142

I too wonder why insects have such a weak point. Only social insects, who protect each other, are spared. Others have to dig themselves into crevices, like solitary bees, yet are still subject to predation.

#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #Orthoptera #predation #entomology #insects #locusts #wasps #wasplove

If I was to nominate an insect in a vampire lookalike contest, this would be one of my top entries:

Stilbula sp., a wasp that, by the looks of it, is a parasitoid http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/178149023

#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #wasplove #wasps #entomology #insects

We depart from UC Santa Barbara, #California, and take with us the memories of excellent outdoors near campus.

West Coast lady, Vanessa Annabella https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/176318388

Long-billed curlew, Numenius americanus https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/176318429

Steniola sp., a sand wasp, on searocket flowers https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/176318543

Halictini solitary bee with a full pollen basket https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/176318653

#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #Lepidoptera #Aves #nativebees #wasplove #entomology #insects

The first flying creature I noticed in Santa Barbara, California, was a hummingbird. The second one a parasitoid wasp. Both good bioindicadors.

Ichneumonid wasp with a long ovipositor http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172581327

Diplazon sp., a hoverfly parasitoid http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172585655

Aporus sp., a spider wasp of ground-burrowing spiders of spectacular light and dark blue colours http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172591393

Pteromalinae, a tiny parasitoid wasp of green metalic colours http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172591447

#iNaturalist #wasps #Hymenoptera #wasplove #parasitoids #insects #entomology

And of course lifestyle, or rather, ecological niche specialisation, tilts the vision-olfaction trade off, here in wasps:

“Differential investment in visual and olfactory brain regions is linked to the sensory needs of a wasp social parasite and its host”, by Rozanski et al. 2021 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cne.25242

This work compared the eusocial wasp Polistes dominula with its obligate social parasite Polistes sulcifer.

#NeuroEvo #neuroscience #entomology #Hymenoptera #wasplove #wasps #Polistes

Elegancez

Ichneumon sp., a comparatively large parasitoid wasp dressed up in yellow and black. http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/169795961

Can only imagine the size of its antennal lobes in the brain. These wasps use antennae not only for smell and wind, but also as percussion hammers and vibration sensors to locate prey deep inside plant tissue, a bit like sonar.

#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #wasplove #wasps #entomology #insects

RT @Ed_P_Wildlife: Was watching garden bee-hotel when this Ruby-tailed Wasp flew up, scurried around a bit a then reversed into this hole. Managed to grab a shot. I waited for about 15 minutes for it to come out, but it didn't. #WaspLove #Patience https://t.co/RzSompTgYZ

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/Plants_EFSA/status/1666731321551474689

It's amazing how much work a mud dauber can complete in an afternoon. We watched this one scope out a spot for an hour or so, and then she apparently started late this afternoon. By this evening, one whole pot. I wonder how many spiders she caught...
#wasps #wasplove

Wasps galore, continued:

A parasitoid wasp, Ichneumonidae family. Has a look and feel of a spider wasp but I don't think it is https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/164562258

European paper wasp, Polistes dominula https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/164564404

Crabronid wasp, looking like the Men in Black https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/164654595

#iNaturalist #Hymeoptera #nativebees #wasps #wasplove #entomology #Crete #insects

Wasps galore:

Cuckoo wasp, Chrysidinae family, in metallic red and blue colors https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/164681749

Cuckoo wasp, Chrysis sp., in metallic red, blue and golden colors
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/164654556

Velvet ant female, Dasylabris sp. (terrible photo, bad lighting and never stopped moving)

#iNaturalist #Hymeoptera #nativebees #wasps #wasplove #entomology #Crete #insects

@eyeinhand Such vibes of "A door into ocean", a #scifi book by Joan Slonczewski where the practice of regenerative medicine includes living plant pods that nurse humans back into health. Of course the author, a microbiologist, likely is well-versed in the many wonders of nature including gall wasps.

By the way these are Callirhytis seminator wasps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callirhytis_seminator and there have been observations all over the US East Coast and Midwest: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=97394&subview=map&taxon_id=123900

#wasplove #wasps #entomology

@biodiversitypix

For #entomology enthusiasts do check out the old hand drawing above, from middle of the 19th century by V. Masson. A wasp and its paper nest. Beautiful.

#Hymenoptera #wasplove #wasps #insects

Lavender: feels like Summer.

Green-eyed flower bee, Anthophora bimaculata, tongue sticking out http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154564987

Potter wasp, Ancistrocerus sp. wasp http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154532689

Paper wasp, Polistes dominula http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154532630

Mediterranean spotted chafer, Oxythyrea funesta, hard at work on future generations http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154532728

#iNaturalist #entomology #Hymenoptera #Coleoptera #wasplove #nativebees #insects #MacroPhotography

Earlier today at one of the bee hotels, #ESRF:

Sapiga sp. wasps (tentative ID) http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/153981981

Osmia cornuta, European orchard bee diligently sealing a chamber http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/153982124

Dermestes laniarius, a carrion-eating bettle http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/153982305

#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #Coleoptera #insects #nativebees #wasplove #entomology

#SilentSunday #wasplove