Yellow-striped Darwin Wasp

The Yellow-striped Darwin Wasp is a slim wasp measuring 12 to 15 millimetres long. It has a black body with clear yellow bands across its abdomen and yellow marks on its legs. The female has long, thin antennae and a noticeable egg-laying tube, though this is shorter than in many related wasps. This wasp is found widely across Britain and much of Europe. It is often seen in gardens, hedgerows, the edges of woodlands, and grasslands from May to September. Adult wasps feed on nectar and honeydew. Female wasps lay their eggs inside the pupae of various butterflies and moths, especially those of certain moths called geometrids. The yellow stripes help to tell this wasp apart from similar species. However, to identify it exactly, it is often necessary to look closely at the colour of the legs and the segments of the antennae.