I took dozens of photos of this Metallic Blue-green Cuckoo Wasp yesterday and netted about three or four serviceable shots. Because the brilliant colors come from the reflection of light off of the wasp’s pitted exoskeleton, the greens and blues are tough to get in focus. That, and the fact this little lovely never stops moving. I’m fairly sure this is Chrysis angolensis. There’s a nice summary of the Chrysis parasitic wasp genus here.
This wee wasp with a relatively large head is a Square-headed Wasp in the (unverified but likely) Ectemnius genus. According to BugGuide, females in the genus burrow tunnels in dead or rotten wood and stock the nests with adult flies for the little ones to eat. Scrumptious!
This blue beauty is, I believe, an Aporus genus Spider Wasp. The way they feed their young is bold and interesting. Wasps in the genus enter the burrows of tunnel spiders and lay their eggs on the spiders. The eggs then hatch and use the spiders as food to get them to the adult stage of life. Other spider wasps bring spiders back to their own nests–this genus apparently doesn’t waste the energy to build a nest at all.
I’ll end with the smallest of all the recent wasps I’ve seen, another metallic wasp in (I think) the Chrysis genus. I learned some cool things on this “Wild with Nature” webpage, including that female Cuckoo Wasps can’t sting: Their ovipositor only functions as just that, an egg-layer.
Have you noticed that all four photos were taken on the same plant? It’s that time of year, when my favorite local Coyote Bush hosts dozens of species of insects, in search of anything that is still in bloom.
Cheers!
Ticklehead 