見限られた者の願い

July, 2019. This nest of the dark-waist paper wasp (Polistes jokahamae) grew smoothly, but the second generation of parasitic moths of this year started to invade the nest. One large worker whose wings were robbed by the parasites just before her emergence, was the only one in the nest who could tear open the silk caps spun by the parasites and hunt them. However, the parasites were too much for the wasps, and they invaded most of the cells of the nest eventually. The wasps stopped caring for the larvae and abandoned the nest. The exhaused flightless wasp, whose leg was broken by the parasites, fought until the bitter end. Next episode:    • 自分の居場所