Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
For those of you who dislike spiders, I’d like to introduce you to your new favorite friend: The genus Pison refers to a small group of crabronid wasps containing about 200 species worldwide. These insects raise their young on a diet of living, but paralyzed, spiders. Paralyzed spiders don’t decay, staying fresh while the wasp [...]
At the time I photographed this little scene (at Bell Smith Springs, Illinois) I was myself unsure of the drama playing out on the oak gall. I sent pictures to wasp expert Hege Vårdal to see if my preliminary guess of a pair of gall parasites was worth anything. Her reply:
From the amazing BBC series Life in the Undergrowth: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weQ0yrl4ypE]
From National Geographic’s In the Womb: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMG-LWyNcAs]
A young adult Comperia merceti, a parasitoid wasp in the family Encyrtidae, emerges from the egg case of its cockroach host. photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D ISO 100, f/11, 1/200 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper
Braconid wasps attacking caterpillar – pumpkin by Lorenzo Rodriguez Urbana, Illinois
Here are some shots from my training session this morning at the Beckman Institute‘s Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). I haven’t used SEM for years- wow! Great fun. Click on each image to enlarge.
Meet the European Paper Wasp, Polistes dominulus. Or is it Polistes dominula? Most biologists I know refer to this common Holarctic insect as P. dominulus, but I’ve just learned via Bugguide.net that the common spelling is a grammatical misunderstanding of the original latin: Explanation of Names Female ruler, lady, mistress: From Latin dominus- “lord, ruler, [...]
Velvet ants- which aren’t really ants at all- are wingless wasps that parasitize ground-nesting bees. They are attractive insects, bearing bright colors and cute frizzy hair. But in case you are ever tempted to pick up one of those cuddly-looking little guys, let the photo above serve as a reminder about what lies at the [...]
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Myrmecos- derived from the ancient greek word for "ant"- hosts Alex's musings about these and other little creatures that share our planet.
Questions? Email alwild [at] myrmecos.net; or follow @Myrmecos on Twitter.
