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In Alberta, this freshly-emerged Western Poplar Clearwing is at the eastern limit of its range. Most of these wasp-mimics have black and yellow abdomens but this less common colour form (perlucida) appears to be the one found in Alberta.

After a forest fire sweeps through a pine forest, many wood-boring insects take the opportunity to lay their eggs on the charred, decaying wood. Their larvae, in turn, are host to several species of parasitic wasp, the largest of which are in the genus Megarhyssa. Including her 70mm long ovipositor, this large female wasp is more than 100mm (4 inches) in length.

This is the uncommon white-spotted black morph of the much more frequently encountered black-spotted pink Fourteen-spotted Lady Beetle (scroll down to view the pink version). In Europe, it is called the Cream-spot Ladybird. There it is dark brown, not black, and the pink morph is unknown.

With its wings completely expanded and stored under its elytra, a lady beetle waits for its exoskeleton to harden somewhat before venturing forth to hunt aphids. The seven dark spots have begun to appear and the light markings on the pronotum are beginning to whiten.

This beetle has just emerged from the pupal stage. Its exoskeleton will harden over the next few hours, the flight wings will expand, the characteristic black spots will appear and the light areas on the head and pronotum will whiten. This is the soft, delicate, teneral stage, when all insects are at their most vulnerable.

The larva of a parasitic Braconid Wasp (Dinocampus coccinellae) has just exited its unfortunate host and has begun spinning its cocoon. Stephen Marshall describes the situation well in his large, excellent volume on eastern North American insects - "Before leaving the beetle in which it developed, the larval wasp used her (this is a parthenogenic species) mandibles to cut the nerves controlling movement in the lady beetle's legs. The lady beetle host was thus immobilized, but remained alive to stand guard over the parasitoid cocoon with its bright warning colors". Parasitoids ultimately kill their hosts, parasites merely make them uncomfortable

Sweeping scrub aspen. Found and photographed by my collaborator Gerald Hilchie who asked me to upload these on his behalf. The adult emerged on September 3, 2022 but never unfolded its wings. Collected under a research permit.