As many of you know who read this blog, a lot of my time is spent watching the amazing interactions of insects on the ant-acacias. The other day I found this incredible wasp inspecting the swollen thorns. The long pointy-thing is her ovipositor (egg-laying device). With this she lays her eggs – inside the bodies of other insects! This is a parasitic species. I’m still trying to figure out if she is after the ants or some other ant-guests, such as caterpillars, inside the galls! More soon – thanks to everyone for the comments .
Amazing photo Dino – how did you get it. I took pics of a cryptic spider on a gall at Crater lake – would you be able to identify it? I’ve never seen such huge drepanolobium trees – they are about 5 m tall there. The ferocious ants seemed to be all the same species – black black red
Very hot picture! I really like it