Giant Ichneumon ovipositing

bugman

August 29th, 2010 at 5:26 pm

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What kind of bug is this?

megarhyssa dawn 267x300 Giant Ichneumon ovipositing

Giant Ichnuemon

What kind of bug is this?
Location: Warwick, Rhode Island
August 29, 2010 4:17 pm
These bugs just showed up and crawl all over the dead tree on the side of my house the long antenna looking thing seems to maybe suck something out of the tree! I have never seen these before and they look like they could be 2inches long some shorter some longer! Its the end of August so we are slowly going into fall.
Thanks, Dawn Bergeron

megarhyssa dawn 3 300x242 Giant Ichneumon ovipositing

Giant Ichnuemon ovipositing

Hi Dawn,
This insect is actually depositing eggs into the tree, not sucking something out as you thought. Several days ago we decided to make the Giant Ichneumon our Bug of the Month for September 2010 so we included information on how the female oviposits her eggs in the wood of dead and dying trees that contain the burrowing larvae of the Pigeon Horntail. The Giant Ichneumon is a parasitoid whose larvae feed solely on the larvae of the Pigeon Horntail. Coincidentally, yesterday we posted an image of a female Pigeon Horntail, another impressive non-stinging member of the order that includes wasps, in the act of oviposition. Though we wrote a lengthy response, we were not able to include images of the actual egg laying or oviposition process. Your photos clearly illustrate the process of a female Giant Ichneumon laying eggs, though your species is different from the species in the Bug of the Month posting, which is Megarhyssa atrata. We suspect your Giant Ichneumon is Megarhyssa macrurus. We are going to combine your letter and images with the previously selected letter to be a joint Bug of the Month posting for September 2010.