Favoritos de richardlbaxter

These three wasps hatched unexpectedly in a vial containing an "empty" native California snail shell (Monadenia infumata ssp. infumata, Redwood Sideband), collected May 11, 2018 from Maring County, CA. They were only discovered in the vial just now, in 2024, but they're in surprisingly good shape. They might be a snail-parasitizing species or perhaps mama wasp just found a nice place to deposit eggs? Whatever you can suggest would be great, I'm curious.

The white stuff on them is probably Kleenex tissue; I was afraid of damaging them so I left it on. They probably never fed or bred, so they might make good (but dry) specimens if anyone is interested.

@sunanna_h @kschnei @matthias22 @hymenopterator @bdagley @bclaridge Let me know if you want them.

Native CA snail people, you might find this interesting too @tlawson @jannvendetti @pliffgrieff @cedric_lee @thomaseverest @oksnaillaboratory

Only remained exposed on a Hydrophyllum leaf for a moment before disappearing.

I've gone with AI's suggestion for subtribe, but I'm not at all sure that it's correct. Please correct as necessary.

Note: I had another encounter a couple of hours later with what seems likely to be the same species: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/198225320.

Originally seen 4 days prior (182127713), still holding onto the remnants of its spider host.
This was one of my many recehcks before found the cocoon open (184472010).
I was surprised to see liquid droplets and what looked like frass at the bottom of the cocoon.

Wish there was a way to label this as a two species observation. A small orbweaver with what I believe is an ichneumonid larvae attached. What amazed me was this was the smallest/youngest spider I have ever seen with this parasite attached.

We reluctantly did some shopping today (ugh), and I got to go to a park for a bit in Weatherford. :) Soldier Springs in Weatherford is a great park with lots of limestone outcroppings and unique plants.

A wasp I observed trapped in the greenhouse. As it was too fast-moving to photograph, I very briefly placed it in a container in the freezer for a minute to slow it down long enough to take some pics. After warming in the sun, it flew away just fine.