-Marcus Aurelius
Like the cuckoo bird, cuckoo wasps are "brood parasites" and will infiltrate the nests of other wasps and bees to lay their eggs alongside their hosts’ offspring. Once these eggs hatch, the young cuckoo wasps larvae will feed on food stored in the nest for the host’s offspring.
Also known as emerald wasps or jewel wasps their metallic iridescent quality comes from light refracting through open spaces between six layers of cuticle in their tough exoskeletons.
Cuckoo wasp on thymophylla (fiveneedle prickly leaf, dyssodia, dogweed)
Sony A77ii
Tamron 90f2.8 DI 1:1 Macro
1/200s, f/9, ISO 100, Diffused Flash
Pune (India)
Sep 2018