The Ark In Space

Spider Mom

Sunday, 21 March 2021

This is one of the most remarkable pieces of film I have seen for a long time. Sure, we are all used to macro photography these days, showing all aspects of insect and arachnid life close up. Yet while that sort of photography needs time and bags of patience this must have been a labor of love indeed.

Funnily enough labor is quite an appropriate word here. This remarkable piece of film shows a spider laying its eggs. Scientifically speaking I should have said a spider ovispositing its egg sac but now you have that you know what it means in everyday speak!

The detail here is stunning – quite remarkable – you can see the eggs inside the spider before their sack is oviposited. Not only that it shows the care that the spider gives its young before they are born and even takes us to the birth itself.

This outstanding footage was taken by Alvaro Mendoza Productions, otherwise known as Amprods, a Spanish production company specializing in nature documentaries and, more specifically, in filming animal behavior.

The Giant Ichneumon Wasp – Stump Stabber Extraordinaire

Friday, 3 June 2016

What is the fastest, tallest, heaviest, lightest? We love to compare members of the animal kingdom in these terms. One word you may hear too is longest but when it appears in a question it is normally asked in terms of total length. In that case, the Giant Ichnuemon Wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus), found in the USA, is nothing much to write home about being just two inches long. However, if the question was “which insect has the longest ovipositor known to science?” then the female of this species would be the answer. And holy egg laying organs, it’s some length.

Image Credit
So, yes. That long thing extending from the wasp, twice the length of its body, is not a stinger or a rear antenna (which might be unusual and interesting). It’s the wasp’s ovipositor, and is used to lay its eggs: but that’s not all. It’s also a drill.

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Spider Mom

Sunday, 21 March 2021

The Giant Ichneumon Wasp – Stump Stabber Extraordinaire

Friday, 3 June 2016

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