Tit For Tat

Possibly Sphictostethus nitidus, a New Zealand native spider-hunting wasp.

I don't know how many hours and misspent shots I've wasted on these wasps. They fly past with a brilliant flash of gold on their wings and instantly disappear. They often hunt among the stones in the rock garden. I have waited, shutter finger poised for action for so long that the lizards come out of their lairs to lounge in the sunshine.

Today I was walking across the lawn when suddenly I felt a sharp sting on my foot. I kicked off my shoe and looked inside. There was this wasp! It was more stunned than I was and I shook it into a plastic container before it could recover. I thought it would be easy to photograph it from there, but it was so lively. At last it stopped long enough for me to get this shot, which is not as sharp as I'd like because it was photographed through the plastic.

I felt a bit mean trapping it in the container, but it did sting me. It was quite all right when I let it go. And by then my foot had stopped hurting.

These golden wasps seem different to me from the big ones I've seen. They are much smaller at 15mm, about half the size of the other, the legs are not so long in proportion to the body, and the walking gait is smooth instead of jerky.