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Thread-waisted wasp. Macrophotograph of a thread-waisted wasp (Ammophila apicalis). Also called sand wasps, wasps of this genus prey on caterpillars; the female paralyses the prey with her sting and drags it back to the nest, a sandy burrow. There the female will lay an egg. The larva hatches and feeds on the paralysed prey. Photographed by the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab: an organisation dedicated to identifying, cataloguing and monitoring bees and other insect species. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)