[Syrphidae] Re: FW: Advanced hunting behaviour or what?

[Klaus Lunau]

Dear Syrpidologists,

 

normal nest provisioning behaviour of a sphecid wasp like Mellinus arvensis,
I guess. 

See photo in: http://www.bwars.com/index.php?q=taxonomy/term/359/all&page=2

 

Best wishes

 

Klaus Lunau

 

Prof. Dr. Klaus Lunau

Institut für Sinnesökologie

Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf

Universitätsstr. 1

40225 Düsseldorf

Germany

 

tel ++49 211 81 13059

fax++49 211 81 11971

http://www.biologie.uni-duesseldorf.de/Institute/Sinnesoekologie

 

Von: syrphidae-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
[mailto:syrphidae-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] Im Auftrag von Francis
Gilbert
Gesendet: Dienstag, 14. August 2012 14:58
An: Hoverfly discussion list
Betreff: [Syrphidae] FW: Advanced hunting behaviour or what?

 

 

 

Dr Francis Gilbert

Associate Professor of Ecology, School of Biology

University Park, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 115 951 3215

website: www.nottingham.ac.uk/~plzfg

                ecology.nottingham.ac.uk

 

 

From: Wittsell, Rasmus - Xylem [mailto:Rasmus.Wittsell at Xyleminc.com] 
Sent: 14 August 2012 12:38
To: syrphidae at nottingham.ac.uk
Subject: Advanced hunting behaviour or what?

 

 

Greetings!

 

Today I observed an unusual thing as I was having lunch in my garden. Being
a former ecology student (at the university in Lund, 1980s) I recognized
that this could be of interest to the right persons.  In short, this is what
I saw and I also propose an explanation, however far-fetched:

 

A wasp (species undetermined) landed on the table in front of me. It looked
strangely deformed, so I took a closer look. The wasp was actually
piggy-backing a hoverfly (also species unknown). Obviously the wasp had
caught the hoverfly, but it was just holding on to it in a way that reminded
me of a mating embrace. It immediately occurred to me that the fly may have
been fooled into allowing the wasp to mount it. If this was so, it would
further imply that the hoverfly was a victim of its own mimicry strategy
because the wasp had developed a hunting strategy that capitalizes on it.

 

I don’t have any more information, as the insects promptly flew away. The
fly was still alive and it seemed to be actively participating in the
flight(, though it was probably just trying to escape). Both insects were of
equal size and the wasp was of a rather small species, though I didn’t have
time to observe it for more than a few seconds. I live in Sjöbo in
southernmost Sweden.

 

Best regards

 

 

Rasmus Wittsell

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