No need to walk far to stumble upon something beautiful. 

Here is a carrot wasp, Gasteruption sp., seen this past July 2022 in Cambridge, UK. The adults drink nectar from flowers of the carrot family–hence the name–and contribute to pollinating them.

Its larval progeny develops as an unwelcomed boarder–a , really, even a predator–in the nest cells of native bees and wasp larvae, consuming the food intended for the host, and likely have started by now. Will only pupate into next Spring.

inaturalist.org/observations/1

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