Saturday 18 October 2014

Insects from August

Tachinid Fly, Eriothrix rufomaculata.  High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.
Tachinid Fly, Eriothrix rufomaculata.  High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.
Looking through my photos, I have a few folders to file, and this one has some photos of insects from High Elms in early August.  Flies, with their spiky hairs, look far from cuddly, and I would not want them around on a picnic, but they have their own beauty.

Ground Beetle.  High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.
Ground Beetle.  High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.
This is a Ground Beetle, one of the Carabidae, but there are several similar species and I do not know which one this is. 

Hoverfly, Rhingia rostrata.   High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.
Hoverfly, Rhingia rostrata.   High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.
Another fly, this time a hoverfly, my favourite group.  That snout is quite distinctive.  There are only two species that have it.

Ichneumon ovipositing on a Knapweed.  High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.
Ichneumon ovipositing on a Knapweed.  High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.
Ichneumon wasps are parasitic.  They typically lay their eggs inside the larva of another species, on which the developing wasp feeds.  I could not see what was inside that Knapweed flowerhead, but it must have been a creature which aimed to feed on the developing seeds, which has been detected by the Ichneumon. 

The large sting-like protrusion to the left is actually the sheath that normally protects the Ichneumon's ovipositor.  The egg-laying tube can be seen pushed inwards, parallel to the petals and amongst them. 

The Ichneumon turned around and probed several times, either to get a good shot at its prey, or to lay into several larvae; I could not tell which.

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