another under-recorded ichneumon

...another day of at least fifty shades of grey! The early morning mist filled me with an unfulfilled hope of some shots of bejewelled beauties, and the afternoon degenerated into light but continuous rain. The thought that, in a week from now, we will have one hour less of evening light is not an entirely pleasant one.

During what purported to be the brightest part of the morning, I managed to find my one and only interesting insect of the day. The is another ichneumon wasp and, while the majority of this very large family are minuscule, Apechthis compunctor is one of the larger ones. Once again, I cannot find many records of it in the UK. Ichneumons are not truly wasps but, like ants, bees and wasps, are members of the Hymenoptera order. I find this parasitic family really interesting but am always frustrated by the lack of reliable information that is available. The demonic appendage at her tail end is not a sting (technically it is a modified sting) but an ovipositor. This is not only missing in males but males often bare little resemblance to females of the same species - another thing that makes identification tricky.

I captured a few reference frames for identification and was in the process of increasing the ISO when she decided to fly deeper into the brambles so the DoF is not brilliant, but I just love the blue and yellow marks on her forewings and those gorgeous red thighs and tibiae!

p.s. The long antennae are a good way of distinguishing from true wasps.

Hoping tomorrow will be a little less grey...