Natural History Photographs


Muğla, Turkey
Letoon
10 June 2009






Libellulidae
Orthetrum sabina Crocothemis erythraea
Trithemis annulata Diplacodes lefebvrii
Selysiothemis nigra




Diptera

Villini Syrphidae: Paragus spec.
Bombyliidae: Toxophora cf fasciculata




Hymenoptera

Braconidae


Apidae: Andrena pilipes
Hylaeus spec


Sphecidae: Prionyx viduata
Sphex flavipennis
Female.
Male.
Sphex flavipennes is a huge wasp. Here it almost dwarfs
the other - already sizable - wasp, Stizoides tridentata.
Crabronidae: Stizoides tridentata
Female feeding at Allium spec. First - and second! - impression is you see a Scolid wasp; however, it isn't. The stunning likeness to the Scolidae makes one easily think this is a clear case of mimicry. But then, why would a wasp resemble another wasp from a distantly related family? Within Crabronidae, there is plenty of aposematic coloration to be found - yet except for Stizoides not the Scolid pattern. So there is a bit of a mystery in this color pattern...


Miscellaneous

Corymbia rufa Cleridae: Trichodes spec.


Eurygaster spec.