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A black female Carrot Wasp (Gasteruption) with her ovipositor almost as long as the body on Cow Parsnip flower. Body (minus ovipositor) around .5 inch long. Echo Valley Provincial Park, Saskatchewan, Canada. 9 July 2022
Gasteruption is apparently the only genus of its family in our area. Note that the abdomen seems to attach much higher on the thorax than in Ichneumons, and the narrow part is straight rather than in a V.
Numbers: 15 spp. in our area(1)(2)
Size: 13-40 mm
Identification
Body slender; antenna with 12 flagellomeres in female, 11 in male; propleura long and neck-like, clearly separating head from pronotum; metasoma attached so high on propodeum that it appears to touch metanotum; metatibia strongly clavate in both sexes; ovipositor moderately to very long.(3)
keys in(4)(5)
Range: Common in Canada and n. US
Habitat: Adults found on flowers in fields, meadows.
Season: Jun-Aug in MN, May-Sep in NC(6)
Food
Adults feed on flowers and appear to favor Apiaceae. Larvae are predators or predator-inquilines of other Hymenoptera that nest in twigs or other woody sites.
Remarks
Gasteruption have a characteristic hovering flight with the swollen metatibiae hanging down so that the insect resembles a helicopter carrying a large load on a cable.(3)
This butterfly is normally considered to be an extremely rare visitor to Britain. However, significant numbers have been seen along the South Coast in 2019. The last big influx was 2015.
This image was taken at Seaton where a few of these butterflies were reported about 10 days ago and I was surprised to fine this adult female in excellent condition.
British-born offspring may start emerging in September and October
Taken while in New Zealand....I liked the contrast of the lone lamb against the sheep with full coats ....you can feel it shivering in the cold
My grandmothers old 200th anniversary milk jug
Latin term or phrase:
nil conscire sibi
to know nothing against him, pale at no fault of
Perenne sub sole nihil
English translation: nothing under the sun lasts forever
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There has been a steep decline in numbers of yellowhammers in the last 15 years They are now a RSPB red list bird classed as needing the highest level of conservation
156451 pauses for a handful of passengers to alight at the village station of Bardon Mill on the Tyne Valley line.
20th May 2017.
2203's numberboards after arriving in Brunswick one rainy night. This was formerly B&O 3583, a late phase GP35 wreck replacement for an earlier unit.