Bit of Detective work

Following on from the pic and thread here https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=193380 .
Id'd as Braconidae - Aphidiinae
Brian V.

Ah a suspicious character, wasp about 2.5mm long

Totally ignored by a guard/nurse ant even though it's body position is a bit of a giveaway

Ah- the evidence

so they get eaten from the inside by the wasp's grubs and the ants dont even chase it away?

Looks like it RM, suspect the wasp must have smell mimic pheromone of some sort.
Brian V.

Nicely captured Brian. I've heard of some wasps being able to mimic over species pheremones. Some spiders do it as well - can't remember the species, but they can mimic the pheremones of a moth species, which makes the moths fall for the old mating trick I suspected something like this with the original images to be honest. Just make sure there's no little aliens running around, cos they grow up to be big bad mean mothers!

Dave

dpastern wrote:
Nicely captured Brian. I've heard of some wasps being able to mimic over species pheremones. Some spiders do it as well - can't remember the species, but they can mimic the pheremones of a moth species, which makes the moths fall for the old mating trick I suspected something like this with the original images to be honest. Just make sure there's no little aliens running around, cos they grow up to be big bad mean mothers!

Dave

Thanks Dave- Must admit I can't quite work out the pheromone part- you would have though that if it smelled like an aphid then the ant would try and milk it or if it smelled of ant then the ant would greet it- this ant just totally ignored it as if it was not there- maybe it' has invisibility cloak smell
Brian V.

Great captures #3 is awesome

Cool stuff

K.

Great captures and an excellent story. Nice one Brian.

Thanks for the comments and help all- I was very pleased to be able find and photograph the culprits- long may they continue
Brian V.

LordV wrote:
Thanks Dave- Must admit I can't quite work out the pheromone part- you would have though that if it smelled like an aphid then the ant would try and milk it or if it smelled of ant then the ant would greet it- this ant just totally ignored it as if it was not there- maybe it' has invisibility cloak smell
Brian V.

I know. I'm not sure how it actually does it, but the pheremone hiding is part of nature's way of hiding some animals from others.

Dave

Cool images and excellent story told.

Excellent captures! Did you actually go out and look particularly for this guy, or you just happened to see this happening?

Thanks Mark
Great gallery you have.
Brian V.

Thanks Leo
I took the original shot of the aphids with the portholes in them lateish one evening and by the time I'd processed them and realised what was going on (I didn't notice the holes when I took the pic) it was too late to do any more shooting.
So next morning I went to the same spot purposely to see if I could spot the culprit in action and sure enough there they were. The one shot I tried to get was of one of the wasps actually hatching from an aphid but never saw it.
Brian V.

Wow.......so there were more than one wasp.

Again great work, Brian!

Try again and get a shot of a hatching one next time I want to see it too