Balancing pond - 10/7/20
I was eager to get to the pond this morning to check on Nefertiti and Ghost. I took a few photographs before carefully studying the leaf purses for any sign of spiderlings emerging. I checked Ghost first and there was nothing out of the ordinary.
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Then it was the turn of Nefertiti. I should point out that on 7/7/20 I had noticed a tear on Nefertiti's leaf purse which she had sewn up with silk and at the time I didn't think too much about it. It was whilst checking the leaf today that it again came to my attention.

I checked the previous photos I had taken and have worked out that the tear had occurred between the 4th and 7th of July. My thought process now lead towards the idea that a parasitoid had gained access to Nefertiti's eggs or at this stage, developing young.

I removed the silk that covered the tear and then used a hand lens to peer inside but this didn't shed any light so I decided to open the tear wider. To be honest, what I found inside wasn't a surprise as I had already convinced myself it wouldn't be spiderlings

Instead, there were two very large cocoons. Both cocoons were of a beige colouration and around 10mm in length. After putting the cocoons in a glass vial I made my way home leaving Nefertiti on a now empty leaf purse.

I now took the decision to partially open one of the cocoons to check on the stage of life and if in fact the pupa were alive. With two needles and very carefully, I opened the cocoon to find a large and very much alive pupa. Both cocoons are now homed in an uncapped glass vial.

We should now discuss the possible parasitiod of Nefertiti's eggs. A quick google search "parasitoids of misumena vatia" brings up a wealth of information but alas, it only refers to the USA. The parasitiod in question is the Cryptine, Trychosis cyperia.

This species can have a massive impact on populations of M vatia, with levels of parasitism as high as 75%. I should point out, as far as I know, T.cyperia isn't present in the UK but we do have other species of Trychosis. I now need to rear the pupae to adult for a confirmed id