Shared Moment: Circle of Life

A wasp displays egg-laying artistry

• Photograph by Mark Charbonneau
• PhotoZone
• May 30, 2017

ON A HOT JULY DAY in a Wisconsin forest, a giant ichneumon wasp prepares to deposit an egg into the burrow of a wood-eating horntail wasp. The newly hatched ichneumon larva will feast on the horntail larva, then emerge months later to begin the cycle again. “I was leery about getting too close,” says photographer Mark Charbonneau, whose macro lens and flash caught this intimate act.

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More from National Wildlife magazine and NWF:

See Last Issue's Shared Moment
Unusual Pollinators
Creating a Haven for Beneficial Bugs
Invertebrates in NWF's Wildlife Guide