Three for the Price of One - _TNY_1448
It's easy to assume that insects like this thick-legged hoverfly (Syritta pipiens) on a common yarrow (Achillea millefolium) only have to worry about predators like birds or spiders attacking them.
In this shot however, there are something else - parasites. The two red blobs on the hoverfly are larvae of some sort of Prostigmata mites (probably Erythraeidae, Trombidiidae or possibly some Microtrombidiidae) which literally suck the life out of the poor fly.
If you look in the lower left corner now, you might discover another parasite there. That's a Chalcid wasps of some sort - I think it is one in the Pteromalidae family.
I don't know if this one parasites on these hoverflies, but regardless, it's a parasitioid wasp and seeing it next to the already small hoverfly nicely illlustrates the fact that in the insect world, there is always someone smaller than you - and they can still be a threat.
Three for the Price of One - _TNY_1448
It's easy to assume that insects like this thick-legged hoverfly (Syritta pipiens) on a common yarrow (Achillea millefolium) only have to worry about predators like birds or spiders attacking them.
In this shot however, there are something else - parasites. The two red blobs on the hoverfly are larvae of some sort of Prostigmata mites (probably Erythraeidae, Trombidiidae or possibly some Microtrombidiidae) which literally suck the life out of the poor fly.
If you look in the lower left corner now, you might discover another parasite there. That's a Chalcid wasps of some sort - I think it is one in the Pteromalidae family.
I don't know if this one parasites on these hoverflies, but regardless, it's a parasitioid wasp and seeing it next to the already small hoverfly nicely illlustrates the fact that in the insect world, there is always someone smaller than you - and they can still be a threat.