Over the last 18 months or so, we have been exploring the relationship between landscape and insect-related ecosystem services on strawberry farms. Let me tell you about something we found... [1/]

#horticulture #agriculture #biocontrol #ParasitoidWasp #entomology #EcosystemServices

For the #InsertAnInvert2024 prompt parasitoid: my linocut Megarhyssa macrurus, the long-tailed ichneumoid wasp or ichneumon wasp. It’s a parasitoid wasp and its “long-tail” is in fact it’s extremely long ovipositor which you can see looping from its back end into the tree. The wasp uses it to deposit an egg into a tunnel in dead wood bored by its host, 🧵1/2

#linocut #printmaking #sciArt #invertebrate #wasp #Ichneumoid #insect #parasitoidWasp #MastoArt

It is definitely a fly-and-wasp-day. Another new species of fly, a Sinuous Bee Fly, Hemipenthes Moriches, visited the garden.

Then a black-waisted mud dauber (Sceliphron caementarium) investigated our space - a solitary parasitoid wasp.

And lastly, a bald faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) was very interested in our fence.

(Oh, and a monarch fluttered past as well!l)

#wasps #hornets #beeflies #gardeninsects #wildlifegardening #monarchbutterflies #parasitoidwasp #prairieinsects #yxe #entomology