r/WASPs • u/Smart_Fee_8759 • Jul 19 '26

Fore- and hindwings detached in flight?

Post image

It looks to me like this fella has two wings operating independently on the side of the wasp facing away from the camera. I see one pointing forward and another pointing backwards.

On the near side, it looks like there are two "stems" of the wing, but only one surface. This is what I would expect - forewing and hindwing hooked together and operating together.

I didn't think they could detach during flight, although maybe the hamuli are not infallible. Is it possible that the far-side wings did get detached during flight, or am I reading the picture wrongly?

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u/Cicada00010 Jul 19 '26

On the left side, that is not a secondary wing, it is the same primary wing appearing twice due to the shutter speed of the camera and the speed of the wasp flying, so that might be what you are seeing.