Chalcid wasp

Lord Vetinari

Found this rather striking chalcid wasp wandering around on a sun chair yesterday tracking something with it's antennae. Unfortunately even the flash did not stop it's wandering (it often does with small wasps).
About 1.4mm body length - taken at 5:1 FF and cropped slightly.

Brian v.









Crop from above shot

GOLDENORFE

Great find , not seen one that colour.
phil

Lord Vetinari

Thanks phil
THink I have seen one like this before but certainly not common.
Brian V.

paddler4

The last one raises a question I have wondered about before: what is the function of the round structures between the eyes? Are the another form of eye? Bumblebees and carpenter bees have them too:

Lord Vetinari

Paddler - most insects have thes simple eyes (ocelli) between the compound eyes. Supposed to be simple light/dark receptors.Hvae seen the comment that for eg they help flyings insects fly the right way up
Brian v.

paddler4

Brian,

Many thanks. I just looked, and sure enough, I found them in shots of a number of other bugs. Shows how (un)observant I am. I wonder if this may help explain why some bugs are less skittish when approached from the side rather than the top. Perhaps the ocelli make them notice a looming shape above more than one to the side.

Dan