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Photo#236326
Attack - female

Attack - Female
Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos County, New Mexico, USA
October 6, 2008
Both insects were on purple aster. I witnessed this same thing with different caterpillars.

Moved
Moved from Anomaloninae.

Cat
Dr. David Wagner has informed me that the caterpillar about to be zonked "appears to be Cucullia dorsalis."

Great picture!
I am three years late in joining the chorus of praise. It is a fantastic action shot.

Moved
Moved from Anomaloninae.

Moved
Moved from Ichneumon Wasps.

Anomaloninae
I have seen some nice photos of ichneumonids on BugGuide, but this eye-to-eye shot takes the cake! It would appear that the caterpillar was about to get stung right in the brain.

Image request
I'm not sure this is acceptable practice on Bugguide, but I've got to ask. Sally, is there a way to request a higher resolution of this image? This is a FANTASTIC image and I'd love to see it bigger. Please contact me at the email in my profile (link to "Lee Elliott" at bottom of comment). I'd only be using it for personal and non-commercial purposes.

Bugguide police: Please let me know if this is not acceptable. I looked through the help and terms of use and didn't see any restrictions. It just seems like it might be an inappropriate use of comment space.

 
higer resolution photo request
I tried your e-mail to send higher resolution photos but didn't hear back so putting it here. The wasp actually has hooks under her chin to hold her ovipositor. I thought that was interesting.

 
I'm afraid were going to have
I'm afraid were going to have to feed you to a giant scorpion for your breach in etiquette. :-)

Absolutely no problem with that request, I'd love it if you could send me a higher res to check out too!

Thanks
Thanks for the ids. I thought maybe the wasp was laying eggs in the caterpillars. Would that be likely?

 
Yes
Yes, the wasp is laying eggs in the caterpillar.

That is a great picture!
And the wasp looks like an Ichneumonidae.

We agree!
The caterpillar seems to be a Cucullia

-
What a GREAT picture!!
Incredible.

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