Chalcid Wasp (Leucospis affinis)
These little wasps are parasitic. Their hosts are mainly solitary bees, less frequently solitary wasps, nesting in a similar way to bees. Their eggs are deposited externally on the host larva or nearby. The first instar larva does not take any food at first but searches the host cell for competitors; in all cases only one parasitoid larva survives and develops as an ectoparasitoid sucking the body fluids of the host larva.
This female was nectaring on the dill weed in our garden.
Sources:
BugGuide
Natural History Museum of the UK
0 comments:
Post a Comment