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Orange wasp – interesting abdomen shape and stinger
Hello bug enthusiasts!
While rock climbing in Memorial day Rumney, NH, we spotted this wasp (?) on a backpack clip. It was pretty lethargic and about 1.25 – 1.5 inches long. It’s bright color pattern, curved stinger, and interesting abdomen shape caught our eye. My friend who referred me to your site looked it up but didn’t find a match – he thought maybe it was a pregnant wasp of some kind…any thoughts? Thanks,
Julie (Somerville, MA)

Hi Julie,
Though it resembles an Ichneumon, this is not a wasp. It is a Crane Fly. We have scoured the Crane Flies of Pennsylvania website and believe this is a species in the genus Ctenophora. It might be Ctenophora apicata, or possibly, Ctenophora dorsalis. We will contact the author of the site, Dr. Chen W Young, to see if he can provide a species identification. Here is Dr. Young’s response: “Hi Daniel, The image shows a female crane fly of Ctenophora dorsalis. This female does not have the typical coloration of most of the Ctenophora dorsalis, but as we have leaned that this species is highly variable in their body size and body color (See notes in website http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/cranefly/tipulinae.htm#Ctenophora_Tanyptera. However, the shape of the ovipositor on this images shows the typical shape of ovipositor in this species. I hope this answer your question. Thanks, Chen ”

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