Mata

Feeling a lot more calm and positive today, so decided to give the 'arse' series a rest.

A week ago, I saw a huge bug fly overhead. It was enormous, so I figured probably a rhinoceros beetle or something similar. I saw it again today, only this time it landed on the path in front of me. I broke my rule and instead of firing off a safety shot, I went into stealth mode and ended up with just a fading memory.

What I do remember is that it was not a beetle. Its body was much more like a wasp with a long abdomen. Even a conservative estimate would be two inches long. The body was all black but the wings had a pattern to them. Its flight was laborious and it kind of flopped onto the ground. I have seen this labored flight in large wasps before, but this was way bigger and so I doubt it was a wasp.

In the couple of seconds that I had, that is all I can recall. I really should have taken the 20' shot, at least I could have done some research.

Research is almost impossible. Try Googling 'wasp indonesia', all you get is hundreds of pages of 'megalara garuda', the fabled giant 2.5" wasp discovered a couple of years ago. I say fabled, because after doing a lot of research on the beast, I eventually got back to the original publication, which stated that it was the largest of its type in the world.

The media got hold of the story and reported that it was the largest wasp in the world and quoted a length of 2.5". Not sure where this number originated, but the actual length of megalara garuda from the original document is 34mm, still big, but 2mm shorter than the wasp that I blipped 18 months ago.

And after all this talk of giant wasps, what do you get - a frog's eye!

Dave