Mastodawn

For #waspWednesday - a Vespula sp. queen wasp sunning herself on a leaf ...

... and a little Nomada sp. nomad bee launches at her, reminding everyone that it's #worldBeeDay!

(To be fair, cleptoparasites like nomad bees probably aren't everyone's ideal of 'bees', but they're part of the vast interconnected web of life. And I suspect this is a male bee, thinking he's found a particularly lovely female bee. Oops.)

From #Derbyshire a few weeks ago - #insects #bees #wasps #macrophotography

#WaspWednesday 😎👉👉

#WaspWednesday 😎👉👉

#WaspWednesday 😎👉👉

#WaspWednesday 😎👉👉

Coprolite9000 - Pixelfed May 6

Auspicious for #waspWednesday - I go outside with my camera, and another Dolichovespula media, Median Wasp queen decides to land on my foot, then fall asleep.

So terrifying, so fearsome. Ahem.

https://www.naturespot.org/species/median-wasp

#Derbyshire #insects #wasps #macrophotography

Coprolite9000 - Pixelfed May 6

It's #waspWednesday, and I have wasps to post!

An unexpected sighting from yesterday - from a distance, I thought it was a European hornet, but no! Dolichovespula media, Median Wasp queen.

https://www.naturespot.org/species/median-wasp

(Angle of photo's not the best - I was holding the camera at arm's length, up in the air, and on trying to get more to the right she grumpily flew off. These are all photos of free-range, wild animals...)

#Derbyshire #insects #wasps #macrophotography

Coprolite9000 - Pixelfed Apr 29

... and because it's #waspWednesday, out of ~300 shots of other bugs, the only in-focus photo of one of the elusive ichneumon wasps that had kept just out of sight.

Fascinating creatures, and I have no hope of identifying it - it's amazing just to know they're about...

#Derbyshire #insects #wasps

Coprolite9000 - Pixelfed Apr 22

For #waspWednesday - a ladybird with its baby!

(By 'baby', of course I mean a parasitoid wasp, Dinocampus coccinellae - the larva of which erupted out of the ladybird's abdomen, made a cocoon and is now pupating underneath using the paralysed ladybird's bright colours and foul taste as a deterrent to predators. All things bright and beautiful, etc.)

https://www.naturespot.org/species/dinocampus-coccinellae

#insects #wasps #ladybirds #macrophotography

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~meoralis~Apr 14

Haha, bring it on! 😁 When I saw that hashtag, I just had to contribute. For wasps ... hmmm. You could go with #WaspWednesday. It's not super well-established yet, but it's not brand new either, so tomorrow's your chance to shine! 😀 I've also seen #bugReport for all kinds of creepy-crawlies. Or #dailyBug or #bugOfTheDay. And of course, there's #InsectSaturday/#Insektensamstag. Believe it or not, I've only ever come up with one hashtag myself (Farnsehen, inspired by a comment from arcturus), the rest of my hashtag schedule is borrowed from all over the Fediverse. I might have helped spread them, but I can't claim credit for creating them. 😅