NaturePhotographers > Michael Hampson  > Animals > Giant ichneumon wasps
Four-inch-long female giant ichneumon wasps (Megarhyssa macrurus) drill into a tree to lay their eggs on larval wood wasps. The egg hatches and the larval ichneumon devours its host over the course of the following year. Males compete to mate with virgin females that have not yet left the tree.
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Michael Hampson > A male ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) searching a dead tree for females that have not yet emerged.
Michael Hampson > Male ichneumon wasp
Michael Hampson > Giant ichneumon wasp
Michael Hampson > Looking for a host
Michael Hampson > Positioning the ovipositor
Michael Hampson > Laying her egg
Michael Hampson > A female giant ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) withdrawing her ovipositor from a hole in a dead tree.  She laid an egg near the larva of a pigeon tremex (a wood-boring wasp); after it hatches, it will feed on the tremex, ultimately killing it before emerging from the tree next summer as an adult.
Michael Hampson > Inserting
Michael Hampson > Ichneumon laying egg
A male ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) searching a dead tree for females that have not yet emerged.
 > A male ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) searching a dead tree for females that have not yet emerged.
A male ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) searching a dead tree for females that have not yet emerged.
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Keywords: animal macro insect wasp ichneumon ichneumon wasp parasitoid megarhyssa macrurus ichneumon fly megarhyssa
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