Six of our captive adult parasitoid wasps had emerged by yesterday, which means we can finally stop worrying so much about the rearing conditions! They all appear to be Phobocampe confusa, and all emerged as larvae at the end of June from Small Tortoiseshell hosts collected mid-June. The larvae formed puparia (cocoons) within a few hours of emerging and have stayed as puparia for a month. Adults emerging now are perfectly timed to attack the second generation of the Small Tortoiseshell. Now we just have to wait for the remaining 484 cocoons to hatch!

I will attempt to take photos to add here if I can get one of them to sit still for long enough!