Insects from August

Tachinid Fly, Eriothrix rufomaculata.  High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.

Looking through my photos, I have a few folders to file, and this one has some photos of insects from High Elms in early August.  Flies, with their spiky hairs, look far from cuddly, and I would not want them around on a picnic, but they have their own beauty.

Ground Beetle.  High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.

This is a Ground Beetle, one of the Carabidae, but there are several similar species and I do not know which one this is. 

Hoverfly, Rhingia rostrata.   High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.

Another fly, this time a hoverfly, my favourite group.  That snout is quite distinctive.  There are only two species that have it.

Ichneumon ovipositing on a Knapweed.  High Elms Country Park, Conservation Field, 11 August 2014.

Ichneumon wasps are parasitic.  They typically lay their eggs inside the larva of another species, on which the developing wasp feeds.  I could not see what was inside that Knapweed flowerhead, but it must have been a creature which aimed to feed on the developing seeds, which has been detected by the Ichneumon. 

The large sting-like protrusion to the left is actually the sheath that normally protects the Ichneumon's ovipositor.  The egg-laying tube can be seen pushed inwards, parallel to the petals and amongst them. 

The Ichneumon turned around and probed several times, either to get a good shot at its prey, or to lay into several larvae; I could not tell which.