#baeus

[bowelfly]

Baeus monks. their monastery is the size of a postage stamp.

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

Baeus Wasps: these strange little wasps are smaller than a grain of sand, and the females are flightless

Wasps of the genus Baeus are sometimes described as "micro-flea wasps," because the females of this genus have tiny, rounded bodies that measure just 0.8mm long.

Above: a female Baeus wasp compared to the tip of a pencil

As this article describes:

Baeus represents one of the most unusual genera of parasitic wasps in that females are apparently wingless, highly compact and flea-like in appearance. They are endoparasitoids of spider eggs of host families associated with above-ground vegetation and crytobiotic niches such as leaf-litter.

Above: female Baeus wasps

The wasps often ride around on the backs of female spiders, simply waiting to parasitize the spiders' eggs:

They have a hypodermic-like ovipositor that is used to pierce the chorion of a host egg, in which they lay their own egg. The [wasp] larva then consumes the contents of the host egg, pupates within it, and emerges as a fully developed adult.

Above: a female Baeus wasp clinging to the underside of a cellar spider's eggsac

This genus remains poorly studied, with only 25 species currently described world-wide:

Even though the highly unusual nature of Baeus has been known for over 170 years, only 25 species have been described to date, three from Australia, seven from the Nearctic, six each from the Neotropics and the Palaearctic, one each from the Oriental and Afrotropical (Seychelles) regions, and one from Hawaii. However, significant numbers of species occur in many regions, particularly in the wet tropics, subtropics and southern hemisphere temperate forests.

Above: a Baeus wasp depicted next to a 0.7mm mechanical pencil lead

These may be the world's most adorable wasps.

Above: a female Baeus wasp grooming herself

Sources & More Info:

Zootaxa: Systematics, Distribution and Biology of the Australian "Micro-Flea" Wasps

iNaturalist: Genus Baeus

Impact Journals: Incidence of Egg Parasitism in Argiopepulchella

Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences: The Black Widow Spider and its Parasites

Oregon State University: Vegetarians, Predators and Parasitoids

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

any wasp in the genus baeus ?

Amazing choice!

Have you seen a member of the Genus Baeus?

I have now

Yes, in photos/videos

Yes, irl

I'm not sure

Voting ended onApr 17

Both photos here are of females, there are no observations of males on iNaturalist yet. Males are winged and not quite as compact, looking more like other members of their family. Members of this genus are parasitoids of spider eggs.

[keeskiwi]

Baeus introduces herself.

[apsciencebylyn]

*taptaptaptaptaptaptap* 🥹

I didn't get to go on a walk this afternoon, but I did go in the back yard and find a Barely-Sentient Dot, Ms. Baeus. Enjoy a small video of her running across a page full of 12-pt periods. 🤎 Yep, that's a wasp.

[insectaesthetics]

found this Baeus sp. wasp in a vial of assorted tiny wasps (this one was the tiniest so I’m feeling lucky I even saw it) and got to database it with my own ID on it! I love whipping this species out whenever people say they hate wasps because this one is definitely hard to hate.

[addicted2wasps]

Comic of the day:

Platyscelio is a Scelionid wasp that is very dorsoventrally flattened.

More info: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3088017/

Here, we have a Baeus, (Scelionidae), innocently poking some fun at it...

[amoebattle]

(horntails aren't technically wasps, but they are in my heart)