Small ? wasp blowing bubble, sort of

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EDIT: It isn't a wasp. It is a Bee, male Lasioglossum (Halictidae). Thanks @Graham. :)

These were captured hand-held in our garden using a Raynox 150 and Raynox 250 close-up lens stacked on an FZ330 bridge camera with KX800 twin flash. The raw files were processed in DXO Optics Pro 11 and Silkypix Developer Pro 7. There are 1300 pixel high versions in this album at Flickr.

I have included some images that I originally rejected on the grounds of their being too similar to others and/or not good enough image quality for my liking. I have decided to use them anyway because when I came to select images for this post I realised that some of the rejected ones might be interesting from the bubble-blowing point of view even if they didn't stand up as images in their own right. So I went back and retrieved several of the rejects. I have used two of them in this post, #5 and #6.

These were small. I'll call them wasps. Perhaps they are parasitic wasps. I hope someone will confirm or correct this.

#1 Here is the first of them that I saw. Now I come to look at it again, I think this one too may have had a bit of a bubble. It is not as obvious as with flies, but is on the underside of the head. Perhaps.


0977 02 21 September 2016 P1080233_DxO RAW 01a SP7 1300h
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr


(For presentational purposes, the following images are not in the order that I photographed them.)

#2 Here is one that sat around for ages while I photographed it. We can see some thin bits dangling off the end of its proboscis (at least, I think that is what it is), which is folded up under its head.


0977 17 21 September 2016 P1080349_DxO RAW 01a SP7 1300h
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#3 The proboscis is folded out a bit more.


0977 16 21 September 2016 P1080347_DxO RAW 01a SP7 1300h
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#4 And a bit more again. Is that liquid or a membrane on the front of the upper section of the proboscis?


0977 18 21 September 2016 P1080350_DxO RAW 01a SP7 1300h
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#5 Now this looks like a bubble to me. But is the proboscis on the near side of it? Wouldn't both be central? Is the proboscis running through the bubble? Doesn't look like it to me. The bubble is more in focus than the proboscis, so they can't be at the same distance.


0977 20.5 21 September 2016 P1080396_DxO RAW 01a SP7 1300h
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#6 Now both the proboscis and the bubble are in focus. I think that is a membrane on the front of the top section of the proboscis .....


0977 20.2 21 September 2016 P1080370_DxO RAW 01a SP7 1300h
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#7 .... because it looks like the content of the bubble is now inside the membrane, no longer bubble-shaped.


0977 20 21 September 2016 P1080365_DxO RAW 01a SP7 1300h
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#8 The liquid now being pushed back in? I don't know, perhaps I have got this all wrong.


0977 19 21 September 2016 P1080373_DxO RAW 01a SP7 1300h
by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
 
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Fantastic find Nick and a great series of shots.
Are you sure its a Wasp?
 
Hi Nick, I took the liberty of taking your file and adding it to my Facebook page for ID, its a Bee, male Lasioglossum (Halictidae).
 
Fantastic find Nick and a great series of shots.

Thanks Graham.

Are you sure its a Wasp?
Hi Nick, I took the liberty of taking your file and adding it to my Facebook page for ID, its a Bee, male Lasioglossum (Halictidae).

Ha ha! I must stop trying to guess what these animals are. I am totally rubbish at ID! :D

Thanks for the ID Graham. Much appreciated.
 
Nice shots as usual Nick and very interesting

Hi Nick, I took the liberty of taking your file and adding it to my Facebook page for ID, its a Bee, male Lasioglossum (Halictidae).

I did think it was bee myself Graham.
 
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