Lovely photo Dave, one that would grace any entomology book! Be careful if you try to pick up one of these. It will curl its “tail” round and inject you!; nothing like as painful as a normal wasp sting, but it will itch and leave a small dark spot! Can I be horribly pedantic and say that in fact it isn’t really a fly in the true sense (which would only have one pair of wings) but a wasp, as characterised by the two pairs of wings and the thin waist? It’s a member of the family of Ichneumon wasps which are parasites of other insects. This particular species injects its eggs into the caterpillars of larger moths – I won’t go into details of what happens next but it surpasses any horror story! It doesn’t have a user-friendly name, only a Latin one which is Ophion, probably Ophion luteus. Some folk call it the Yellow Ophion which strikes me as being rather ridiculous for obvious reasons! Sorry, I seem to have got rather carried away with it all; the entomology lecture ends here! A case of little things pleasing little minds I guess!
Hmm Michelle, I don’t know if “expert” is an appropriate word, but I’m certainly an enthusiastic amateur! In fact I find the whole natural world fascinating and full of interest, from the largest tree to the weeniest insect; they are all miracles of creation. I suppose I’m especially interested in insects largely because I spent my boyhood days in the fields and woods catching butterflies and moths and other bugs and trying to identify them; later on I was lucky enough to get a job in the entomology department at Imperial College. Sadly that’s just a fond memory now but I’ve never lost the interest and Dave’s insect pics are just the excuse I need to take a virtual trip into the green and leafy countryside for a few happy minutes!
Lovely photo Dave, one that would grace any entomology book! Be careful if you try to pick up one of these. It will curl its “tail” round and inject you!; nothing like as painful as a normal wasp sting, but it will itch and leave a small dark spot! Can I be horribly pedantic and say that in fact it isn’t really a fly in the true sense (which would only have one pair of wings) but a wasp, as characterised by the two pairs of wings and the thin waist? It’s a member of the family of Ichneumon wasps which are parasites of other insects. This particular species injects its eggs into the caterpillars of larger moths – I won’t go into details of what happens next but it surpasses any horror story! It doesn’t have a user-friendly name, only a Latin one which is Ophion, probably Ophion luteus. Some folk call it the Yellow Ophion which strikes me as being rather ridiculous for obvious reasons! Sorry, I seem to have got rather carried away with it all; the entomology lecture ends here! A case of little things pleasing little minds I guess!
wow. we’ve got a few of them in our house. i’ll go and bash them when i get home !
is alan an entomology expert?
Hmm Michelle, I don’t know if “expert” is an appropriate word, but I’m certainly an enthusiastic amateur! In fact I find the whole natural world fascinating and full of interest, from the largest tree to the weeniest insect; they are all miracles of creation. I suppose I’m especially interested in insects largely because I spent my boyhood days in the fields and woods catching butterflies and moths and other bugs and trying to identify them; later on I was lucky enough to get a job in the entomology department at Imperial College. Sadly that’s just a fond memory now but I’ve never lost the interest and Dave’s insect pics are just the excuse I need to take a virtual trip into the green and leafy countryside for a few happy minutes!
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