Tuesday 28 July 2009

Ichneumon wasp (Dolichomitus imperator) laying egg

I was lucky to be present when an ichneumon wasp had just started laying eggs (ovipositioning). As far as I have been able to find out the species must be Dolichomitus imperator, but that may be a mistake. I took a series of pictures showing how it struggled to bore the huge ovipositor down in the wood, probably hitting an unsuspecting larvae, that will serve as a meal-package for the hopefull offspring of the wasp. The ovipositor is usually protected by a sheath that is visible on some of the pictures.

The slide show covers a duration of little less than 10 minutes

I have made a blog entry in Danish on my Bruunshåb blog telling a little bit more about the images

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