Volucella pellucens.

• 23 Jul, 2010
• 5 likes

Britain's largest Hoverfly! These amazing creatures fly into wasp nests, apparently undetected or at least tolerated by the wasps, and then lay their eggs in the bottom of those nests. The larvae eat detritus (droppings, skins, dead wasps) that falls from the wasps and their larvae and so help to keep the wasp colony clean and disease free. That's a pretty neat symbiotic relationship!