The Hunter And The Hunted

Sitting on my small square of decking near my garden pond, just relaxing after being busy in the garden, a small drama began to play out.

There are always many Spotted Wolf Spider (Pardosa amentata) gathered around my pond, resting on the rocks and stones, and hiding in-between them, and what appears amongst them is this female Ichneumon wasp, Ichneumon stramentor. It was directly on the side of the decking  beneath me, and it was moving quite rapidly back and forth across the boarding, its long antennae flickering madly as if in searching for something. The females hunt out moth caterpillars where it will inject them with eggs, the larvae upon hatching will eat the caterpillar from the inside out whilst it is still alive, quite a gruesome way to go. Maybe this was what this wasp was searching for, a host for its young.

But whilst the Ichneumon wasp was preoccupied in its own possible hunt, it was actually being hunted. A Spotted Wolf Spider suddenly appeared but a few centimetres away from beneath the decking, and was observing the wasp, maybe weighing it up. It crept a little closer to it, but appeared quite wary. It observed its potential prey, must have decided it was too big for it to tackle, and the wasp went on its own way.

 

04/1704/17 by Peter Hillman Categories: Animals, Animals (Invertebrates), Arachnids, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature Photography, Photography, Spiders, Wasps, Wildlife PhotographyTags: Arachnids, Hymenoptera, Ichneumon stramentor, Ichneumon stramentor female, Ichneumon Wasps, Ichneumonidae, Insects, Macro, Macro Photography, Nature, Nature Photography, Pardosa amentata, Photography, Spiders, Spotted Wolf Spider, Spotted Wolf Spider Pardosa amentata, Wasps, Wildlife Photography 7 Comments