Butterfly Killer

[col188]

Not the best of pics i know, but it clearly shows a the macabre image of a clinically dissected Small/Large White. The decapitated head being eaten by a Social/Common? Wasp.
The other snipped wings, are out of shot close by.

Would the Wasp have done the deed, and could it be a Queen?

Col

[aeshna5]

Wasps do regularly kill other insects + take them back for the grubs, including some much bigger than themselves, though they'll also scavenge any dead ones they encounter. I watched a worker carrying a dead Small White a couple of weeks back.

[col188]

Thanks Aeshna
i wasn't sure that Social Wasps preyed on other insects.

Once observed a Wasp take of with a Spider clinging to its back. Wondered if it did make it back to the hive, if its mates would kill the Spider. Wouldn't have though the Wasp survived.

Col