Bright but below zero.
Four shots of Peltigera membranacea - Rabbits Paw Lichen. The fresh growths are pale grey/blue and later turn slate grey.
And on the same Willow trunk, a specimen of Lecanora chlarotera.
These photos are the conclusion of a long-running search for the hosts of my ichneumon egg-laying images. Back in August 2004 and in August 2005, I photographed a Macrocentrus wasp laying eggs in Knapweed flowers. I've been hunting the host species ever since. Late last year I found a fly larva but got no confirmed identification. This image ties up with Urophora sp., one of the Tephritid or picture-wing flies.
The next image shows bird damage to the same seedhead. So the fly larva has to avoid being parasitised by an ichneumon AND avoid being eaten by a bird in order to survive. Of the specimens I examined, about 25% had a single fly larva inside, and without keeping a large sample it would be difficult to know what percentage of those had been parasitised.
