Doug Wechsler / Long-tailed giant ichneumonid wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) female laying eggs in trunk of dead tree, Camp Woods Preserve, Pennsylvania, USA. September.

Doug Wechsler / Long-tailed giant ichneumonid wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) female ovipositing, showing the translucent membrane used to push the threadlike ovipositor deep into the wood of a dead tree, Camp Woods Prese...

Doug Wechsler / Long-tailed giant ichneumonid wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) female ovipositing, the translucent membrane helping to push the threadlike ovipositor deep into the wood of a dead tree, Camp Woods Preserve,...

Ripan Biswas / Giant ichneumon wasp (Rhyssa persuasoria) using its ovipositor to lay eggs, Buxa tiger reserve, West Bengal, India.

Doug Wechsler / Female Long-tailed giant ichneumonid wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) wiping ovipositor with hind legs after having parasitized larva of horntail wasp. Pennsylvania, USA. September.

Doug Wechsler / Female Long-tailed giant ichneumonid wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) ovipositing by parasitizing larva of horntail wasp inside trunk of dead tree using ovipositor consisting of sheath with sharp point for...

Doug Wechsler / Female Long-tailed giant ichneumonid wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus) ovipositing by parasitizing larva of horntail wasp inside trunk of dead tree using ovipositor consisting of sheath with sharp point for...

Jiri Lochman / Gasteruptid wasp (Gasteruption sp.) female, resting on a leaf, Mount Gibbs Nature Reserve, Western Australia. March. (Gasteruptiidae)

Jiri Lochman / Gasteruptid wasp (Gasteruption sp.) female, foraging among Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus sp.) flowers, Mount Gibbs Nature Reserve, Western Australia. March. (Gasteruptiidae)

Jiri Lochman / Parasitic wasp (Megalyra sp.) female, on tree bark, South West forests, Western Australia. March. (Megalyridae)

Jiri Lochman / Parasitic wasp (Megalyra sp.) female, on tree bark, South West forests, Western Australia. March. (Megalyridae)

Jiri Lochman / Parasitic wasp (Megalyra sp.) female, on tree bark, South West forests, Western Australia. March. (Megalyridae)

Jiri Lochman / Parasitic wasp (Megalyra sp.) female, on tree bark, Chaelundi National Park, New South Wales, Australia. September. (Megalyridae)

Jiri Lochman / Gasteruptid wasp (Gasteruption sp.) female, exhibiting full length of its strikingly long ovipositor while feeding on a Waxflower (Chamelaucium sp.), Dryandra Forest, Western Australia. October. (Gast...

Marie Lochman / Gasteruptid wasp (Hyptiogaster sp.) female, feeding on a Waxflower (Chamelaucium sp.) flowers, Kalbarri National Park, Western Australia. August. (Gasteruptiidae)

Marie Lochman / Gasteruptid wasp (Gasteruption sp.) female, feeding on a Myrtle (Myrtus sp.) flower Bindoo Hill Nature Reserve, Western Australia. September. (Gasteruptiidae)

Marie Lochman / Gasteruptid wasp (Gasteruption sp.) female, feeding on a Waxflowers (Chamelaucium sp.), Dryandra Forest, Western Australia. October. (Gasteruptiidae)

Konrad Wothe / Crown wasp (Stephanidae) on tree bark in rainforest, showing ovipositor, Panguana Reserve, Huanuca province, Amazon basin, Peru.

Paul Harcourt Davies / Female Great green bush-cricket (Tettigonia viridissima) nymph, with its ovipositor fully developed but not its wings, resting on leaf, Umbria, Italy. November.

Doug Wechsler / Close up of female Periodical cicada (Magicicada sp.) ovipositor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. May 2021

Nigel Cattlin / Giant ichneumon wasp (Gasteruption jaculator) female visiting hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) flowers, Berkshire, UK, July.

John Waters / Ichneumon wasp (probably Pimpla, sp.) laying an egg in the pupa of a Bird-cherry ermine moth (Yponomeuta evonymella), using its ovipositor. A caterpillar of the same moth is beside the wasp on the she...

John Waters / Ichneumon wasp (probably Pimpla sp.) laying an egg into the pupa of a Bird-cherry ermine moth (Yponomeuta evonymella), using its ovipositor, over a sheet of communal webbing, Bristol, UK, June, 2021.

Joao Burini / Ichneumonid parasitoid wasp (Ichneumonidae) on leaf, Southeastern Atlantic Forest, Mantiqueira Mountain Range, Sao Francisco Xavier, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Ripan Biswas / Parasitic wasp (Xanthocryptus novozealandicus) Buxa Tiger Teserve, India.

Nick Upton / Large rose sawfly (Arge pagana) laying eggs on Dog rose (Rosa canina) on a chalk grassland slope using an ovipositor inserted into a young stem, Bath and Northeast Somerset, UK, June.

Alex Mustard / Pink eye goby (Bryaninops natans) hovers over a coral. This fish seems to have its ovipositor extended and may have been laying eggs. Laamu Atoll, Maldives. Indian Ocean

Nick Upton / Ichneumon wasp (Ichneumonidae / Pimplinae) female with a long ovipositor grooming its abdomen while sunning on a Dogwood leaf on a chalk grassland slope, Bath and Northeast Somerset, UK, May.

James Dunbar / Hoverfly (Epistrophe grossulariae) attempting to lay eggs amongst aphids. Ovipositor visible, April, UK

James Dunbar / Hoverfly (Epistrophe grossulariae) taking off from flower and landing again, April, UK

Andy Sands / Ichnumen wasp (Lissonata Sp.) female resting on a Bluebell flower, Hertfordshire, England, UK, April - Focus Stacked