On the same patch of tansy as yesterday's
yellow-bellied bee, a large, green-eyed wasp was feeding.
The Latin name, "
Tachytes" means "swiftness, speed". A good description. I chased this guy from flower to flower for a long time; he rarely slowed down.
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| Probably a male. |
Males in particular have very large eyes, the better to detect passing females or rival males ... (BugEric)
BugGuide describes the abdomen as having "four pale abdominal bands and a bright silvery
pygidial plate." (The pygidial plate is the tail end segment of the abdomen.) In the bright sunlight where this one was foraging, those pale and silver bands looked very pale blue.
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| Another of the bees on the tansy. |
Unfortunately I didn't have a camera handy. I saw a Cuckoo Wasp on the swim ladder just before I got in the water. It was a brilliant iridescent turquoise blue and only a few centimetres long. - Margy
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