These photos were taken a week ago while I was walking in a garden. I noticed a scoliid wasp (Scoliidae sp.) perched on a dry shrub twig.
I took the shot so carefully. I was worried that if I touched that twig, the wasp would flee. But I did, and the branch shook quite violently.
Instead of fleeing, the wasp remained where it was. The incident piqued my curiosity.
I then realized that the wasp was a corpse. It had stiffened along with the dry twig. I examined the wasp's two stiff antennae; there was a white powdery substance stuck to them. I suspect the scoliid wasp died from exposure to the Cordyceps fungus. It takes several days for the fungus to develop on its host. The white powdery substance is likely fungal spores.
Not far from there, I found a neon cuckoo bee (Thyreus nitidulus). It was perched quietly on a dry twig. Its jaws gripping the twig tightly. It was alive. I confirmed that its abdomen was expanding and contracting.
It's just that one of its wings was slightly damaged. But I still aimed carefully. I didn't need to test its flight ability. I was afraid it would just fly away.
