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  • Mark McCaughreanmarkmccaughrean@mastodon.social
    Aug 26, 2026, 3:29 PM

    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 ...

    #Heidelberg 🏰
    #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
    #BugOfTheDay 🐞
    #MacroPhotography 🔬
    #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
    #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

    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.
    💬 2🔄 6⭐ 1

Replies

  • Mark McCaughreanmarkmccaughrean@mastodon.social
    Aug 26, 2026, 3:38 PM

    ... 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 😬

    #Heidelberg 🏰
    #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
    #BugOfTheDay 🐞
    #MacroPhotography 🔬
    #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
    #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

    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.
    💬 1🔄 5⭐ 5
  • Mark McCaughreanmarkmccaughrean@mastodon.social
    Aug 26, 2026, 3:49 PM

    As for the moths, one new & one old.

    The new one is in tribe Crambini, the crambid snout moths, so named for their many protruding palps.

    More specifically, this is an elbow-striped grass-veneer (Agriphila geniculea; 🇩🇪 Ellbogenstreifiger Graszünsler).

    A couple of macro stacks to try & catch the details.

    #Heidelberg 🏰
    #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
    #BugOfTheDay 🐞
    #MacroPhotography 🔬
    #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
    #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

    An elongated moth with its wings wrapped into a tubular form, seen side on on a green fig leaf. It is a mix of browns in a kind of carpet / tapestry like pattern, with some orange bands near the end of the wings, which are tasselled. It has long segmented antennae laid over its back, and a very fluffy set of palps (the snout) protruding from the front of the head. It has light grey compound eyes.
    The same moth from a slightly different angle, showing many of the same features.
    💬 1🔄 3⭐ 7
  • Mark McCaughreanmarkmccaughrean@mastodon.social
    Aug 26, 2026, 3:58 PM

    And the old moth (as in, I saw one last week already 🙂) is a rosy-striped knot-horn (Oncocera semirubella; Rhabarberzünsler).

    Very sparkly in the sunlight 🌞

    #Heidelberg 🏰
    #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
    #BugOfTheDay 🐞
    #MacroPhotography 🔬
    #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
    #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

    A moth with its wings folded, seen from above on a green sage leaf. The moth has green compound eyes and long antennae folded over its wings. The latter are a mix of yellow, white, black, and red, with sparkly bits. The ends of the wings are frayed.
    The same moth seen side on, holding onto a sweetpea. The white and silver underside of the moth is seen from this angle, as is the prominent "horn" pointing up from in front of its eyes.
    💬 0🔄 3⭐ 1
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