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A wasp egg (Pison sp., Crabronidae) on a paralyzed spider. Yandoit, Victoria, Australia
Breaking open the sealed mud cell of a Pison mud wasp (Crabronidae) reveals a cache of paralyzed spiders. By not killing the spiders outright, the wasp's larvae can eat them before they start to rot. Yandoit, Victoria, Australia
The most serious pest of modern beekeeping is Varroa destructor, an Asian mite that jumped from the eastern hive bee Apis cerana to the western bee Apis mellifera when commercial beekeeping brought the two bee species into contact. The mite causes severe winter losses in heavily infected bee yards. Here, a mite rides on the abdomen of a worker bee.
A mating flight of Crematogaster cerasi acrobat ants provides a parasitic Pseudacteon fly (at lower right) an opportunity to attack. Urbana, Illinois, USA
A mating flight of Crematogaster cerasi acrobat ants provides a parasitic Pseudacteon fly (at lower right) an opportunity to attack. Urbana, Illinois, USA
An inchworm (Geometridae) bears the burden of parasitic wasps (Braconidae: Microgastrinae) that have consumed its tissues and are pupating on its back. Urbana, Illinois, USA
A female Rhipiphorus sp. wedge-shaped beetle lays an egg in an aster. These odd insects are parasites of bee larvae. On hatching, the young beetle grub will attempt to hitch a ride back to a bee's nest where it will attack the bee's own offspring. Shawnee National Forest, Illinois, USA
This Isodontia mexicana wasp has been stylopized by Paraxenos parasites in the enigmatic order Strepsiptera, evident as bulges emerging between the abdominal segments. Illinois, USA
The orange balls in the Reticulitermes nest are a fungus that assumes the size, texture, and chemical signature of termite eggs. Termites, being blind, can't tell the difference and care for the fungus as if they were their own eggs. Bell Smith Springs, Illinois, USA
The orange balls in the Reticulitermes nest are a fungus that assumes the size, texture, and chemical signature of termite eggs. Termites, being blind, can't tell the difference and care for the fungus as if they were their own eggs.

Bell Smith Springs, Illinois, USA
The orange balls in the Reticulitermes nest are a fungus that assumes the size, texture, and chemical signature of termite eggs. Termites, being blind, can't tell the difference and care for the fungus as if they were their own eggs. Bell Smith Springs, Illinois, USA
The orange balls in the Reticulitermes nest are a fungus that assumes the size, texture, and chemical signature of termite eggs. Termites, being blind, can't tell the difference and care for the fungus as if they were their own eggs.

Bell Smith Springs, Illinois, USA
See photo in original gallery.
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all images and text © Alex Wild 2001-2013