#cuckoo wasps

[ljsbugblog]

a tiny Cuckoo Wasp, pausing her forage for a quick rest.

I very rarely witness cuckoo wasps at rest, and its even rarer that they allow me to get close, so I am especially pleased with this photo.

Unknown Cuckoo Wasp (family Chrysididae).

[celestialmacros]

How are these colors possible in nature?

Caenochrysis sp., a member of the cuckoo wasps

June 27, 2023

John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, Tinicum, Pennsylvania

[ichbineinkriechend]

found a baby today!!!

[ID: Three pictures of a cuckoo wasp (Goldwespe), sitting on a grape leaf. Its front half is a shiny blue, its back half is a shiny red. End ID]

[oujibat]

Tfw you take wood from outside to use for your aquarium hardscape and you don’t boil it yet because you’re doing a dry start method for your carpeting plants and the combined heat, light, and moisture bring the cuckoo wasp in the wood out from hibernation too early in the year to be released outside bc it’s still too cold so it takes you two whole days to safely(her species has no stinger I need to worry about, I was more worried about hurting or losing her in my house) wrangle her into a secure container to care for her til warmer weather comes.

Her name is Gemma and she’s the size of a grain of rice.

She lives here now and I drip feed her sugar water through a paper wick; punched all the air holes myself don’t worry.

[herpsandbirds]

Cuckoo Wasp (Morphochrysis sp.), family Chrysididae, Ribatejo, Portugal

photograph by Ricardo Gonçalves

[usgsbiml]

The Case of Excessive Wasp Bling. OK, there is something about metallic insects that is so attractively unsubtle. Even though I have several other pictures of Chrysidid wasps like this one, I can't help but have another taken. So, there you go. Ponder while reveling in all this metallic armor, why be so conspicuous if your m.o. is to invade other wasp and bee nests? At least to humans. Perhaps it is just a thumbed nose, a statement of obvious inedibility. Photo by Anders Croft. ~~{{{{{{0}}}}}}~~

All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.

Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

We Are Made One with What We Touch and See

We are resolved into the supreme air, We are made one with what we touch and see, With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair, With our young lives each spring impassioned tree Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change. - Oscar Wilde

[quickboot]

By odettecurtis at iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC

[crevicedwelling]

although the word wasp might make you think of a yellow-and-black eusocial insect, the majority of wasps are solitary parasites that come in a dazzling array of colors and sizes and shapes.

cuckoo wasps (Chrysididae) are some of the most fantastically iridescent wasps and insects in general. their common name comes from the fact that they are typically parasites or kleptoparasites that lay their eggs in the nests of solitary wasps and bees where the chrysidid larvae hatch and consume the other wasp’s larva and the food its mother stocked the nest with.

this species, Pseudomalus auratus, doesn’t bother with sneaking around other wasps’ nests—it oviposits on aphids instead! if a wasp like Pemphredon that stocks its nest with aphids captures one that carries a Pseudomalus egg, the egg hatches and her hard work will have gone into feeding a cuckoo wasp instead.

P. auratus is actually native to northern Eurasia, but was thought to have been accidentally introduced to the US about 200 years ago, perhaps in the hollow stems of horticultural plants where Pemphredon & similar aphid wasps nest.

[pixelarthropods]

I saw on tumblr some bees/wasp so I decided to make em! I rebloged the post where I saw em so you can find em easier!

Honeysuckle Sawfly, Cuckoo Wasp, Spilomyia Fusca! I hope you guys like em!

[onenicebugperday]

European cuckoo wasp, Euchroeus purpuratus, Chrysididae

Females are orange/purple and males are blue/green

Photos by Frank Deschandol // Instagram

Shared with permission; do not remove credit or re-post!

[celestialmacros]

Aah, shiny

Cuckoo wasp (Hedychrum sp.)

August 11, 2024

Southeastern Pennsylvania

[miyrumiyru]

Huge emerald jewel wasp ✧✭

Emerald Cuckoo Wasp (Stilbum cyanurum)

Tatarian Aster (Aster tataricus)

[jupiterswasphouse]

[PHOTOS TAKEN: JUNE 4TH, 2024 | Image IDs: Four photos of a metallic green cuckoo wasp on a grey wooden plank /End IDs.]

These guys are just adorable 🥰

[a-wasp-in-the-hand]

she hung out with me while i was processing nettle fiber

Chrysis sp. , likely angolensis

9/3/23

[herpsandbirds]

look at this cool bug I found!

Critter Submission:

What a beaut!!! This is definitely a cuckoo wasp, family Chrysididae.

It looks very much like the common and cosmopolitan Metallic Bluish-green Cuckoo Wasp (Chrysis angolensis).

Species Chrysis angolensis - BugGuide.Net

[usgsbiml]

Chrysidid Wasp - Utah In the last post we spoke how over the top this group of wasps is with their flashyness. Just to illustrate the infinity of bling of that specimen. Here is a head shot. Click to full screen. Drill in. Bling infinity. Too bad we don't have the equipment to plumb to the molecular bling level.