10/09/2021
We stumbled across these giant ichneumon wasps while on a beaver expedition in Massachusetts last July.
They are laying their eggs directly into the tree. But they don’t make the holes themselves: it’s someone else's nest. Once the ichneumon wasp female detects the presence of pigeon horntail wasps, she inserts her ovipositor into their nests so her eggs can feed on the larvaes as they grow.
The ichneumon wasps won’t emerge from the nest until the following summer - only to die within 27 days.