Red-eye special

No, not that kind of red-eye. These are supposed to be red.

Bug season is upon us. Today's catch around the house:

1. One Indian meal moth larva. Found in the bird seed. Fed to the Xysticus spider from the sprig of fir. Yum!
2. One carpet beetle. First of the year, by the open window. Video taken, to be processed later.
3. One springtail, a long, thin one this time. Measured and photographed. To be sent to BugGuide for ID.
4. One unidentified egg packet. (At least, that's what I think it is.) Set aside for monitoring.
5. Umpteen Mexican chile beetles, many dead adults, one very much alive adult, many live larvae. To be photographed tomorrow.

It's early in the year for this, I think, but it is unseasonably warm. Look for a bunch of buggy posts in the near future.

And I'm behind on posting the January crop. Which included this luscious yellow wasp:

Torymid wasp, probably Megastigmus, female.

I found her mate on a kitchen wall a month ago; she turned up in the bird seed a couple of days later. She is barely 3 mm. long, not counting that long ovipositor at the end.

There was some discussion on BugGuide as to the species, but if she is a Megastigmus, although her relatives are parasitic, and she's classified under "Parasitic Apocrita", she lays her eggs inside seeds instead of inside other insects. My bird seed, to be precise.

The name refers to the spots on the wings:

Stigmata?

There's not much more to say about her, but I liked these photos:

Top of the head, and red, red eyes

As curious about me as I am about her.

And now, I've detained you long enough; if you haven't been there already, go on over to Beetles in the Bush for the 47th edition of Circus of the Spineless. A stunningly beautiful nudibranch, ironclad snails, samurai crabs, and that's just for starters!