[Taxacom] Mystery photo

[JF Mate]

Congratulations Stephen, you have come up with a Rorschach test for
entomologists.

Jason
On Oct 27, 2012 12:51 AM, "Stephen Thorpe" <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz>
wrote:

> It is most amusing that everyone seems to see their own favourite type of
> insect in the photo!
>
>
> From: "Quicke, Donald L J" <d.quicke at imperial.ac.uk>
> To: Doug Yanega <dyanega at ucr.edu>; "TAXACOM at MAILMAN.NHM.KU.EDU" <
> TAXACOM at MAILMAN.NHM.KU.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, 27 October 2012 7:21 AM
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Mystery photo
>
> i still think it is a braconid wasp, about 5-10 mm long
>
> ________________________________________
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [
> taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] on behalf of Doug Yanega [
> dyanega at ucr.edu]
> Sent: 26 October 2012 18:10
> To: TAXACOM at MAILMAN.NHM.KU.EDU
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Mystery photo
>
> I find it hard to accept that the insect in the photo is only 2 mm
> long, especially given that the orchid pollinium would therefore be
> less than 1/3rd of a millimeter. That seems unreasonably tiny. If 2
> mm is a genuine figure, then I could go with the ID of a male scale
> insect, but it does otherwise look like a small lepidopteran. Not
> sure that there are Arctiids that small in New Zealand, so I'd be
> inclined to think a tiny Zygaenid. On top of which, male scales have
> no mouthparts, so it's not like they could possibly be feeding in the
> flowers. What could possibly entice them into repeated floral visits
> that could effect pollination?
>
> Peace,
> --
>
> Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology        Entomology Research Museum
> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314        skype: dyanega
> phone: (951) 827-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
>               http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
>   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
>         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
>
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