spotted at ryton woods coventry carrying a ichneumon wasp larva, possibly Polysphincta tuberosa (Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae). unusual in being a koinobiont ectoparasitoid - allowing the host to continue development but living outside the host's body. The adult lays a single egg on the front of a spider's abdomen. The position of the egg makes it impossible for the spider to remove it using its legs or mandibles and makes rubbing it off very difficult. When the egg hatches the larva stays in the same position and pierces the host's skin to drink its body fluids. In its first weeks the larva remains quite small (