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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
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| Sci-fi nightmares play out beneath the flowers | Sci-fi nightmares play out beneath the flowers |
| (5 days later) | |
| Dunwich Heath, Suffolk Brilliantly coloured jewel wasps use the living bodies of other insects to nourish their larvae | Dunwich Heath, Suffolk Brilliantly coloured jewel wasps use the living bodies of other insects to nourish their larvae |
| Mark Cocker | Mark Cocker |
| Tue 15 Aug 2017 05.30 BST | Tue 15 Aug 2017 05.30 BST |
| Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 17.09 GMT | |
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| Much of the basic storybook that supplies the raw materials for horror films and novels seems to me to be derived from entomology. And here, at this place of autumn purple and gold, scattered thinly all along the sandy paths that bisect the billowing tides of flowering heather, was a particular inspiration. | Much of the basic storybook that supplies the raw materials for horror films and novels seems to me to be derived from entomology. And here, at this place of autumn purple and gold, scattered thinly all along the sandy paths that bisect the billowing tides of flowering heather, was a particular inspiration. |
| It was a tiny 1cm-long creature that looked as brilliant an insect as I have seen in this country. The mid-thorax, hind legs and head were all glittering turquoise, while the abdomen and front thorax were shining burgundy. The unmistakable colours distinguish a small group that are known as jewel or ruby-tailed wasps (in German they are called Goldwespen, gold wasps), of which there are about 30 species in Britain. The commonest is one I see regularly even about our house, where they burrow into crevices among the loose masonry. | It was a tiny 1cm-long creature that looked as brilliant an insect as I have seen in this country. The mid-thorax, hind legs and head were all glittering turquoise, while the abdomen and front thorax were shining burgundy. The unmistakable colours distinguish a small group that are known as jewel or ruby-tailed wasps (in German they are called Goldwespen, gold wasps), of which there are about 30 species in Britain. The commonest is one I see regularly even about our house, where they burrow into crevices among the loose masonry. |
| I am more enthusiast than expert but these at Dunwich are possibly Hedychrum nobile, a species that, alas, has no English name. There were dozens of them along the path, where they were busy tending to the next generation. This is a macabre process, because it requires the parasitising of a host insect. | I am more enthusiast than expert but these at Dunwich are possibly Hedychrum nobile, a species that, alas, has no English name. There were dozens of them along the path, where they were busy tending to the next generation. This is a macabre process, because it requires the parasitising of a host insect. |
| In this instance, their victim looked to be the sand-tailed digger wasp, Cerceris arenaria, a creature that is itself no saint. Digger wasps paralyse other soft-bodied insects such as flies and caterpillars with a sting, then drag them underground to become a living larder for their offspring once they hatch. | In this instance, their victim looked to be the sand-tailed digger wasp, Cerceris arenaria, a creature that is itself no saint. Digger wasps paralyse other soft-bodied insects such as flies and caterpillars with a sting, then drag them underground to become a living larder for their offspring once they hatch. |
| The jewel wasps, however, wait in the vicinity of the diggers’ burrows and then lay their eggs in the same chambers, where their larvae will emerge to join the other wasp young in devouring the provisions. The jewel wasps may also lay their eggs inside the bodies of the host larvae, whence they proceed to eat their way out before attending to the other supplies of flesh. | The jewel wasps, however, wait in the vicinity of the diggers’ burrows and then lay their eggs in the same chambers, where their larvae will emerge to join the other wasp young in devouring the provisions. The jewel wasps may also lay their eggs inside the bodies of the host larvae, whence they proceed to eat their way out before attending to the other supplies of flesh. |
| It may be no more than coincidence, but I cherish the fact that where this jewel wasp was discovered in Britain is the same Surrey spot where the Martians first landed in HG Wells’s War of the Worlds. | It may be no more than coincidence, but I cherish the fact that where this jewel wasp was discovered in Britain is the same Surrey spot where the Martians first landed in HG Wells’s War of the Worlds. |
| Insects | Insects |
| Country diary | Country diary |
| Animals | Animals |
| Wildlife | Wildlife |
| Rural affairs | Rural affairs |
| Summer | Summer |
| features | features |
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