Tootfinder

Macro pics coming soon. I love tiny wasps. #wasps #eulophidae #hymenoptera

Sweat bee collecting pollen from a corn tassel in my garden. The word on the street is that it's not particularly nutritious and spoils faster than pollen from insect-pollinated plants. #corn #maize #anthers #garden #bee #hymenoptera #insects #nature

In case anyone needs to know, if you jostle an inflorescence of yarrow over a piece of white paper, very small (1 mm) wasps fall out. Most tend to hop around instead of flying away. Extremely hard to photograph, disappearing and reappearing like miniature Nightcrawlers from the X-Men universe. Am going to chill some plants to slow them down, so stay tuned if you're interested. You're interested, right?? #wasps #yarrow #achillea #insects #hymenoptera

Small (~1.25mm) wasp that I've been finding in large numbers on yarrow growing in my yard. I'll probably never be sure, but my guess is that it's Aprostocetus anodaphus (Eulophidae), an endoparasite of Ozirhincus millefolii (Cecidomyiidae), which I've found on the same inflorescences in equally large numbers. As far as I know it has never been reported in North America. Please go out and check for them if you have yarrow and a macro lens. #wasps #hymenoptera #yarrow #achillea #flies #parasite #nature #insects #macrophotography

Newly-ecolosed male chalcid wasp (Eurytoma sp.) using its forelegs to remove the pupal sheath from one of its antennae. The long setae on each flagellomere will fluff up to give the antennae a bottle-brush look. From eastern redbud seeds. #wasp #chalcidoidea #hymenoptera #eurytoma #insects #nature #entomology #macro

Last fall I stuffed several hundred eastern redbud seeds into pharmaceutical gel caps, then waited for parasitic wasps to emerge so that I could take photographs. #blog #wasps #insects #parasites #nature #redbud #beetles #hymenoptera #macro #macrophotography #entomology https://colinpurrington.com/2026/06/wasps-emerging-from-eastern-redbud-seeds/

Here's the first bee to visit my mud pan. Possibly a Lasioglossum based on the relatively sparse hairs on abdominal tergites. It's interesting that she took a water break during foraging. #bees #lasioglossum #halictidae #hymenoptera #insects #nature #inaturalist #macro #pollen #pollination https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/363160234

Allantus viennensis (Tenthredinidae) foraging for nectar on a peony flower bud. This is one of several sawfly species that spends its larval days defoliating my roses. They also eat Rubus so I'll be watching my blackberries and raspberries carefully. Originally from Europe. #sawflies #hymenoptera #insects #nature #wasps #macrophotography #roses #rosa #symphyta #rubus