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Photo#78321
Argiope predator? - Argiope aurantia

Argiope predator? - Argiope aurantia
Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA
September 19, 2006
Size: 1/3 inch
This is an argiope egg sack, about 3 weeks old. It now has a few small holes in it and I see a couple small wasp like flies on it. I assume they are predators, what are they? One hole is visible near the top.
Thanks

Moved

Possible parasite.
This could indeed be a possible parasite. The insect is an ichneumon wasp, and a few genera of ichneumons are known parasites of spiders (and/or their egg sacs?). Neat shot!

 
Ichneumon Wasp
Thank you Eric.
My next question is where should I submit this image? Under Y & B argiope or Ichneumon Wasp?
I can assume that the little spiders are doomed? I have a second egg sack 4 yards away that looks fine.
This was a tough shot to get, the egg sack is tucked deep inside this plant (Phlox).

 
we would like to move
this image to the Y&B info page. If you want one on the ichneumon page, you can just post the image a second time, and that time to the Ichneumonidae page. Nice find!
Scroll down this page to see how we used your image. Thanks.

 
Moving image
Thank you John & Jane. I just wanted it in he right place. I appreciate all the help I receive on this site. If any of my pics can help, I'm happy to oblige.
I just looked, Thanks. It's almost like having it featured. Wohoo! !

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