INSECT SPECIAILIST
Yes, I am an insect specialist, an entomologist, but this post is about one species of insect with very specialised life history. Meet Ephialtes manifestor (Linnaeus) - a "Sabre Wasp" (Order: Hymenoptera, Family: Ichneumonidae)
I saw this parasitic wasp yesterday while I was surveying for an extremely rare beetle - Hypebaeus flavipes - that in England is know to live on about 10 of the most ancient oak trees in a National Nature Reserve about 20km from my home. I have informally monitored the population of this beetle for about 35 years but now it is the subject of a Government conservation initiative and I have been contracted to investigate why it lives on some trees, but not on apparently identical neighbouring trees.
The Nature Reserve has a handful of totally dead but still standing oak trees which I can ignore as Hypebaeus does not live on dead trees. However, these trees have interest to an entomologist, not least the "Sabre Wasp".
My photo shows a female "Sabre Wasp" - easily recognised by its long ovipositor (egg laying tube). Total length of wasp from head to tip of ovipositor is about 80mm. This species (Ephialtes manifestor) parasitises solitary bees and wasps. The sensitive antennae detect the larvae of bees/wasps nesting in the dead timber - you can see some nest holes in the photo. The "Sabre Wasp" will insert the ovipositor into the nest tunnel and leave one or more eggs in or close to the bee/wasp larvae.
I'm not sure if Ephialtes does this, but some "Sabre Wasps" having located their particular prey - a timber beetle or wood wasp larva for example - use the ovipositor to "drill" up to 8cm through the solid timber and deposit an egg directly into the prey larva. The cuticle of the ovipositor has large amounts of zinc and/or manganese (up to 10% of the insect body weight) giving the necessary strength and resilience to the organ. It seems an impossible task that an apparently delicate hair like ovipositor made up of three equally long but separate parts could "drill" deep into solid oak, not just once, but time after time depositing eggs in the prey larvae. Equally impossible we might think, is how the "Sabre Wasp" by using its antennae detects a living timber beetle or wood wasp larva through several centimetres of solid timber. A true "wonder of nature."
I saw this parasitic wasp yesterday while I was surveying for an extremely rare beetle - Hypebaeus flavipes - that in England is know to live on about 10 of the most ancient oak trees in a National Nature Reserve about 20km from my home. I have informally monitored the population of this beetle for about 35 years but now it is the subject of a Government conservation initiative and I have been contracted to investigate why it lives on some trees, but not on apparently identical neighbouring trees.
The Nature Reserve has a handful of totally dead but still standing oak trees which I can ignore as Hypebaeus does not live on dead trees. However, these trees have interest to an entomologist, not least the "Sabre Wasp".
My photo shows a female "Sabre Wasp" - easily recognised by its long ovipositor (egg laying tube). Total length of wasp from head to tip of ovipositor is about 80mm. This species (Ephialtes manifestor) parasitises solitary bees and wasps. The sensitive antennae detect the larvae of bees/wasps nesting in the dead timber - you can see some nest holes in the photo. The "Sabre Wasp" will insert the ovipositor into the nest tunnel and leave one or more eggs in or close to the bee/wasp larvae.
I'm not sure if Ephialtes does this, but some "Sabre Wasps" having located their particular prey - a timber beetle or wood wasp larva for example - use the ovipositor to "drill" up to 8cm through the solid timber and deposit an egg directly into the prey larva. The cuticle of the ovipositor has large amounts of zinc and/or manganese (up to 10% of the insect body weight) giving the necessary strength and resilience to the organ. It seems an impossible task that an apparently delicate hair like ovipositor made up of three equally long but separate parts could "drill" deep into solid oak, not just once, but time after time depositing eggs in the prey larvae. Equally impossible we might think, is how the "Sabre Wasp" by using its antennae detects a living timber beetle or wood wasp larva through several centimetres of solid timber. A true "wonder of nature."