Giant Wasp Portrait, Pt. 2 - _TNY_5292

The two vacation weeks in August that we spent at my mother-in-law's place outside Härnösand, Sweden were wet. Just like in most of the country it was rain, rain, rain.
This, combined with the need to work in the garden taking care of about forty trees which we have had felled, led to very little bug photography.

But one of the days when the weather was slightly better, an opportunity appeared that was way to good to ignore. My mother-in-law found this female giant woodwasp (Urocerus gigas), also known as the banded horntail and greater horntail, was laying her eggs in one of the chopped down pines on the ground.

Apart from being absolutely huge, up to 40 mm / 1.6" - this exceeds the size of workers of the Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia)! - they also have a really intersting life cycle.

The female drills down her ovipositor into the wood and she then lay five or six eggs into the log, but that is not all. She also grafts a fungus known as the bleeding conifer crust (Stereum sanguinolentum) into the tree. The larvae will stay inside the wood for two years and the fungus will constitute the main source of food for it.

The larvae gnaw long tunnels inside the wood and pack them with a finely chewed wood powder behind them. This makes it difficult to discover that they are present in the wood and as a result, sometimes people have used the wood to build their new house and then suddeny finished giant wasps come out through the wallpaper!

This species is becoming rarer and rarer, but it is comparatively common in the province of Ångermanland where this was taken - it is actually the provincial insect of Ångermanland.

In case you're wondering about the three bumps in the middle of her forehead, there are simple eyes, ocelli, which lots of insects have if you look for them. They don't have the resultion of "real" eyes, but are more about some additional help realising a bird or a hand or other threat is closing in and that you should take evasive action.

Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53134988290/

A photo showing this large lady in her entirety in the middle of depositing eggs can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53105658243/

and a second one with the tip of my finger for scale here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53245266887/

Taken in: Sweden / Västernorrland / Hanaberg (show map)

Taken on: August 9, 2023

Tags:

macro

Canon

5Ds

flash

Godox

Thinklite

TT685C

plåtdiffusor v7

MP-E65

2.4:1

2.4x

Urocerus

gigas

hornstekel

stor hornstekel

Siricinae

vedstekel

Siricidae

Siricoidea

växtstekel

Symphyta

sawfly

Hymenoptera

stekel

Wespe

wasp

giant woodwasp

horntail

banded horntail

greater horntail

Riesenholzwespe

Holzwespe

CanonEOS5Ds

Pflanzenwespe

gul hornstekel

f/13

Canon MP-E65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro « less

Sets appears in: • MP-E65mm f/2.8 1-5x • Wasps

Groups appears in: • Living Jewels of Nature • Precious Living Jewels of Nature more » • Members Choice (Admin Invite Only) • Canon EOS 5D Mark III + Mark IV + 5DS - 5DS R (TR). • Canon EOS 5DS and 5DS R Users • !Flickr Macro • CLOSE LOOK « less

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