The Insect Arena

This Paper Wasp (Polistes) had built a nest under the metal spiral staircase of our Airbnb this vacation. We had used it several times and only realized they were there about halfway through the week. We were a little more respectful of their presence after that, but they really didn't seem to give a crap that we were even in the vicinity. Southern Paper Wasp (P. bellicosus), I think. March 2023. St Petersburg, Florida, USA.

Not being super familiar with the habits of most flies, I can't say how this little island of death ended up. The dead fish was only a couple of feet off shore, and the rotting flesh of course attracted some opportunistic dipterans to deposit some babies with assurance of a good meal before pupating. From what I understand, the larvae that are ready to pupate will normally drop off into the soil to do so, and herein lies the problem. They try it, end up in the water and drown or become fish food themselves or endlessly search for an appropriate place to transform into adulthood (which in this scenario is non existent). Maybe this is even a super specialized species built for this kind of thing and they're going to bore into that co**se, pupate inside it and we'll soon have adult flies pouring out of that hollowed out eye socket (straight out of a horror movie). March 2023. Tampa, Florida, USA.