Wasp Vs Caterpillar
by Sally King
Near Los Alamos, NM
D80, 60 mm macro, f/9.0, ISO 200, aperture priority
The wasp laid an egg in the caterpillar shortly after this photo and then flew off from the writhing caterpillar.
I didn't include the whole caterpillar because the back end of the caterpillar curved toward the camera and was out of focus. The closer shots also show much more detail like the hooks under the wasp's chin that it used to hold the ovipostor when laying the eggs.
Comments
12 commentsI love this shot! The bright colors against that muted background are great.
Interesting interaction......and you were there to capture it. Very nice.
Karon
Florida
The wasp is an Ichneumonid, (Family Ichneumonidae – parasitoid* wasps). It’s a species of the subfamily Anomaloninae -- parasitoid* wasps that lay their eggs in caterpillars (a few species attack beetle larvae). After the egg is inserted, the wasp larva grows inside the caterpillar, which lives to pupate. But then the wasp larva kills the host pupa and the wasp emerges from the pupa instead of the moth.
(*Parasites don't kill their host, but parasitiods do kill the host after they are done letting it to the feeding for them. Kid of creepy, eh? This is where they got the idea for the monsters that pop out of people in the "Alien" movies.)
Congrats on the EP -- Well deserved.
Very well done