Small selection today once the rain had stopped

[Paul Iddon]

Lousy weather most of the day but when the sun shined for half an hour, the insects came out to play briefy...


A wolf spider carrying her eggs:

A sawfly larva tucked up away from any rainfall:

I think this is Pimpla rufipes - the black slip wasp - hard to get anything because ichneumonids are way to quick and this one was deep in the laurel:

And lastly the Salticus scenicus jumping spiders came out. There were 3 - the smallest being the one on the left at around 2mm which cautiously kept her eyes on the middle sized one, while the largest wandered around nearby but kept away from the other two:

Paul.

 

[Deleted member 55]

Ouch!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Great shot, Paul,


A beautiful wasp. The red is handsome and unique!

Asher

 

[Paul Iddon]

Thanks

Paul.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Thanks

Paul.

I read that “Despite their unusual name, ichneumon wasps are very common, and they are the largest family of animals in the world, with more than 60,000 to 100,000 species living in many different habitats and climates,”

In the ISA we have 5,000 species of these wasps!

 

[Paul Iddon]

I read that “Despite their unusual name, ichneumon wasps are very common, and they are the largest family of animals in the world, with more than 60,000 to 100,000 species living in many different habitats and climates,”

In the ISA we have 5,000 species of these wasps!

The vast majority are really small - I would hazard a guess that if you are in the garden and see something briefly that is almost unnoticeable - it would have been an Ichneumonidae.

Paul.