Two Ichneumonid wasps from the yard.
Great Golden Digger Wasp-Sphex ichneumoneus. The digger moniker comes from their habit of nesting in the ground and laying an egg in each cell then leaving an orthopteran (grasshopper, locust, katydid, etc) in there for the larva to feed upon. One way we avoid having a plague of locusts, I guess.
Another Ichneumonid wasp-Trogus pennator. This species rears its young by parasitizing the larvae of various swallowtail butterflies. Hopefully none of the offspring of the ones I shared yesterday.
Look at those beautiful eyes! The three in the center are the Ocelli, simple eyes as compared to the larger compound eyes. Compound eyes resolve detail while the Ocelli sense light and movement.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
Let’s hope that the first one will never disappear….
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They are beneficial. It is sad that too many folks think all of something, like wasps or other insects, are all bad.
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Beautiful eyes, indeed.
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Dark and dreamy, they are.
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The wasp’s three ocelli might be an analog of the pineal gland in humans and other vertebrates whose production of melatonin is stimulated by darkness and inhibited by light.
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My melatonin hasn’t been triggering lately and even taking a supplement hasn’t helped.
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Yeah, it’s a bug-eat-bug world out there! 😉
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We all gotta eat. 🙂
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Those three simple eyes suddenly reminded me of my photo of the Green Lynx spider. Sure enough, I read that the funny cluster on top of its head also contains eyes of some sort. I’ll have to explore more later, and see if I have a decent image of them. All this time, I thought they were decoration.. Eyes dedicated to sensing light and movement certainly would benefit a spider.
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All those eyes enable a spider to get a better view of their surroundings since they can’t move their head. Little in Nature is for decoration and pretty much everything has purpose.Even decoration has the purpose of attracting a mate or disguising someone from a predator.
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Great Wasp images Steve! Love the detail in your images!
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Thanks, Reed. The 7D Mark II and 100 macro Mark II are a great combination.
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Fantastic photographs – you’ve captured so much detail!
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Thanks, Ann. Wasps are very interesting and the vast majority of little threat to humans.
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Great details! Your last shot is fabulous! Those wings!!
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Thanks, Donna. I continue to be impressed with my 7D Mark II and 100 macro Mark II combo.
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