David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital
Video Images
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Hymenoptera 46 – Six-spotted Wasp-Cuckoo
Wasps
SIX-SPOTTED WASP-CUCKOO Nysson
trimaculatus
SIX-SPOTTED WASP-CUCKOO Nysson
trimaculatus
SIX-SPOTTED WASP-CUCKOO Nysson
trimaculatus
SIX-SPOTTED WASP-CUCKOO Nysson
trimaculatus
SIX-SPOTTED WASP-CUCKOO Nysson
trimaculatus
SIX-SPOTTED
WASP-CUCKOO Nysson trimaculatus
·
The
Six-spotted Wasp-cuckoo Nysson trimaculatus is a small and unobtrusive digger wasp
that is a cleptoparasite of Gorytes
species. The extent of the yellow markings is quite variable. In this case the
most likely host would appear to have been G. laticinctus
as these nationally scarce species are both known to be inhabitants of
the same small London park. One mystery is the apparently contradictory
specific name and ‘sexmaculatus’ might have
been more appropriate! The wasp in the third and fourth photographs had been
disturbed and in response it descended to ground level whereupon it was
observed running about the leaf-litter. When it flew up again it flew straight
into a spider’s web. Although the photographs accurately illustrate one form of
predation the hapless insect was removed after they had been taken as the
photographer thought that the survival of a national scarcity was more
important than the spider missing a single meal!
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Hymenoptera 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51,
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