Wingless wasp in the family Mutillidae

From – Wikipedia,

By – Vinuri Randhula Silva,

Euspinolia militaris, sometimes referred to as the "Panda Ant".

Oh we can definitely see why...with this look. Panda Ant is a species of wasp in the family Mutillidae. Though it is a wingless wasp. This species was discovered in 1938, and inhabits the Chilean sclerophyll forests. It has been referred to as the "panda ant" due to its coloration; with white coat covering all of its head except the eyes, and black and white spots appearing over the rest of its body.

The coloration is aposematic, serving as a warning to predators of its painful and powerful sting. Females are wingless and males have wings. They measure up to 8 millimeters in length. Panda Ants are solitary ectoparasites of mature larvae or pre-pupae of other insects, as is true of other mutillids, with females using the ovipositor to insert eggs into host brood cells, and for stinging (for defense).

The color patterns of a female wasp is what helps the male wasp differentiate between another male and a female. Like other mutillids, during mating the males are presumed to lift females and proceed to mate while airborne.

After mating, the female wasp goes underground to a bee or wasp nest where the larvae from the growing Panda Ant, eats off of the host and eventually kills it.

This species produces sound in response to threats from potential predators via stridulation, as do other mutillids, though this species is unusual in having a strong ultrasonic component to the sounds it produces

References

Finley, Reginald V. (2016-01-17). "The Panda Ant (Euspinolia militaris)". Exploring Our Planet's Amazing Biodiversity. Amazing Life. Archived from the original on 2017-03-13. Retrieved 2018-01-10.

Comments

Who Was the Real Marilyn Monroe?

From - Smithsonian Magazine, By - Grant Wong Historian, University of South Carolina, Edited by - Vinuri Randhula Silva, “Blonde,” a heavily fictionalized film by Andrew Dominik, explores the star’s life and legend in a narrative that’s equal parts glamorous and disturbing Marilyn Monroe’s final interview is a heartbreaker. Published in Life magazine on August 3, 1962—just a day before the actress died of a barbiturate overdose at age 36—it found Monroe reflecting on her celebrity status, alternatively thoughtful, frank and witty. “When you’re famous you kind of run into human nature in a raw kind of way,” she observed. “It stirs up envy, fame does. People you run into feel that, well, who is she—who is she, who does she think she is, Marilyn Monroe?” That same question—who was the real Monroe?—has sparked debate among cinema scholars , cultural critics , historians , novelists , filmmakers and th...

New Comet SWAN Now Visible in Small Scopes

From :- Sky & Telescope By :- Bob King Edited by :- Amal Udawatta This spectacular image of Comet SWAN (C/2025 F2) was taken on April 6th and shows a bright, condensed coma 5′ across and dual ion tails. The longer one extends for 2° in PA 298° and the other 30′ in PA 303°. Details: 11"/ 2.2 RASA and QHY600 camera. Michael Jaeger Amateur astronomers have done it again — discovered a comet. Not by looking through a telescope but through close study of publicly released, low-resolution images taken by the Solar Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) camera on the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). On March 29th, Vladimir Bezugly of Ukraine was the first to report a moving object in SWAN photos taken the week prior. Michael Mattiazzo of Victoria, Australia, independently found "a pretty obvious comet" the same day using the same images, noting that the object was about 11th magnitude and appeared to be brightening. R...

Best Double Stars in the Pleiades Cluster

From -Sky & Telescope By - Bob King Edited by- Amal Udawatta The dipper-shaped Pleiades cluster (M45) is also called the Seven Sisters and named for the mythological seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. The young cluster is between 75 and 150 million years and lies 444 light-years from Earth. Jared-Bowens The Pleiades star cluster is one of the night sky's best-known astronomical sights. Alluring to the naked eye, it's even more amazing through binoculars or a small telescope, both of which reveal dozens more stars. As the cluster plows through space at 6 kilometers per second (13,400 mph), its hot, youthful suns illuminate a happenstance interstellar cloud, turning it into a gossamer nebula that temporarily enshrouds the stellar bunch. Additional treasures lie within its bounds: There are also about a half-dozen double and multiple stars within the Pleiades. You might already be familiar with 2.9-magnitude Alcyone, a choice triple st...

Nature Hub

Search This Blog