I've been watching this Carolina Mantis ootheca for months waiting for them to hatch, but I believe I've captured something even more interesting than just a standard mantis hatching!
On April 21st, I captured this wasp mother (Likely Eupelmidae) ovipositing into the egg case!
(It starts getting interesting around 2:30, and she starts ovipositing around 3:30!)
This was great to witness—Although I was disappointed that the mantises likely wouldn't hatch (I did, though, see mantis babies elsewhere), getting to see and capture a parasitoid in action was fascinating!
That's not all, however. I kept watch, and over the next two weeks I continued to occasionally see what may have been the same wasp, or perhaps different wasps of the same family, which you can see here on my iNaturalist page! If it was indeed the same one, I'm curious as to what she was doing there, be it keeping guard or otherwise!
Regardless, eventually the Eupelmid wasp stopped appearing... and in its place came some Crematogaster ants and a Podagrion wasp!
(The most interesting bits are closer to the end!)
The ants began to eat away at the protein foam of the ooth, while the wasp oviposited into the already parasitized eggs! Absolutely fascinating!
[PHOTO TAKEN: MAY 16TH, 2025 | Image ID: A photo of a black Podagrion genus wasp ovipositing into a Carolina mantis ooth /End ID.]
Here's a closer look! Here you can see the ovipositor getting into that egg case, and those signature Chalcidoid hindlegs!
I've yet to see anything leave the ooth, but I'm curious as to what will happen between the parasites in this situation!
