Chrysidines sp

Image Critiques Macro/Close-up Critiques
1

Kristen_SmithAugust 11, 2021P1066860-Edit
Kristen_SmithAugust 11, 2021P1066860-Edit1500×1500 644 KB

Description:

So quick, fluttery and shy, I managed one shot of this cuckoo wasp resting on my deck railing. IRL it’s about 1 1/2 cm long and very slender. The colors are not exaggerated!

Cuckoo wasps are so named because they lay their eggs in the unfinished and untended nest of another wasp or bee. The nest is later sealed by the owner after she has placed her own egg there along with food for her future larva. The cuckoo wasp larva either eats the other larva or starves it to death by devouring all the food… Another kind of icky strategy to get ahead. There are some 3000 species worldwide and all are metallic beauties. They are solitary not hive wasps.

Specific Feedback Requested:

Ideas for improvement welcome

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

Is this a composite? No

Handheld - I don’t think I could get an arm or wrist on the railing so it’s just me.

image

Processed in Lr for initial exposure adjustments and the crop, then into Topaz Sharpen and back into Lr where I used a brush to lighten the wasp’s face a little and further bring up texture.

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@the.wire.smith

2

Kris, you did a fine job HH to get this one. Such wonderful details where needed. Amazing colors. So glad that you saw him and was able to get this shot of him face on.

3

Thanks, Shirley. And I fixed the info in my OP, I had this little one mixed up with one of these -

Kristen_SmithSeptember 07, 2020P1041302
Kristen_SmithSeptember 07, 2020P10413021500×938 275 KB

An ichneumon wasp on the same deck railing. She is less than 1 inch long with the ovipositor and the antennae. She lays eggs in tree bark that also hosts other insect larvae - she injects them directly on or into other larvae. When her eggs hatch they’re hungry indeed.

4

Wow, that is another nice capture, with an interesting story to go with it. Nature is just amazing.

5

Such a cool critter, Kris. Nicely captured. The colors are quite extraordinary. Nothing to change in my view. Well done.

6

Thanks guys. At first I thought it was green metallic sweat bee, but the eyes are wrong. Thank goodness for the internet since I don’t have a wasp book, but only a general insects of North America book for ID. Maybe I should add one.