bug??? Hi,
I was wondering what kind of bug this is. There were at least 30 of them on the tree at once. I am located in Grand Rapids MI. Thank you soooo much for your time!
Melissa
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| Megarhyssa atrata |
Megarhyssa macrurus |
Hi Melissa,
You have submitted photos of two different species of Giant Ichneumons. The black specimen with the yellow head is Megarhyssa atrata and the brown and yellow individual is Megarhyssa macrurus. Giant Ichneumons are beneficial insects, though they are often mistaken for wood wasps upon which they feed. The adult female Giant Ichneumon uses her formidable ovipositor to deposit eggs in wood infested with wood boring larvae of the Pigeon Horntail and other Wood Wasps. The young Ichneumon parasites the wood boring larva. We have gotten so many images of Giant Ichneumons this summer we have decided to make it the Bug of the Month for August.
What’s THIS bug?
Hi there,
This bug appeared on my desk tonight and we’ve never seen one like this before. What made me take notice of it most was the white midsection on the dark coloured antennae. I apologize for the quality of the photos but our digital camera won’t take good closeups. This is the best I could do. One photo was taken while the bug was sitting on a white envelope and the other two were taken with it sitting on the beige wallpaper. The bug is about an inch long if you count in the antennae. He flies from one light to another or sits on the wall next to the light. I’d appreciate knowing what it is. I looked on your website but, not knowing what type of bug to look up, I’d have to look at every listing there. Since I have dialup and not high speed, that would take forever. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I hope this thing doesn’t bite because we’ve chosen to let him fly free. If he lands on me, I may change my mind on that though!
Cheryl Jones
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Canada
Hi Cheryl,
This is an Ichneumon. Ichneumons are an important group of insects that parasitize caterpillars, wood boring insects, aphids and others. Ichneumons are related to wasps, but they do not sting. BugGuide has identified your group of Ichneumons in a very general sense according to color: Black/White w Orange legs, Dot on Back, White on Antennae. BugGuide also indicates that Ichneumonidae is: “One of the largest families of insects with over 3100 species in North America (60,000 worldwide). The majority resemble slender wasps. They differ from the wasps that sting (Scolioidea, Vespoidea and Sphecoidea) in that they have the antennae longer and with more segments usually 16 or more). In many ichneumons the ovipositor is quite long, often longer than the body. It is divided into 24 or 35 subfamilies depending on different authors.. Many Ichneumons are of value in the control of noxious insects. “
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Posted 22 July 2007
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Sabre wasp laying eggs
Hi WTB,
I love your site and use it all the time; I thought I’d share with you this photo I took of a female Sabre wasp laying her eggs in a tree stump in my back yard. Enjoy!
Jenn
Hi Jenn,
We were not familiar with the common name Sabre Wasp with regards to the Giant Ichneumon, Megarhyssa atrata. Thanks for enlightening us about this fitting name.
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Posted 19 July 2007
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Male and Female Megarhyssa macrurus
Hi!
We were at our cottage in Holland, MI and were lucky enough to witness 2 female Ichneumon Megarhyssa macrurus depositing their eggs, while a couple of males observed. I noticed that have quite a few pictures of the females on your site – and thought you might like a couple photos of the males! Thanks for your amazing site that helped me to identify this fascinating creature 
We had a great science lesson for all the kids (and adults too) to learn as much as we could after we figured out what we saw! Everyone was relieved to find out they are not stinging insects and were safe to be around Sincerely,
Kristen Miles
Grand Rapids, MI
Hi Kristen,
Your amazing photos are a wonderful addition to our site. Now our readers will know what the male Megarhyssa macrurus looks like.
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Posted 19 July 2007
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Mystery Bug
I have taken pictures of this bug now for the last two years but it has been coming to a tree in my yard for the last four years and around the same time each year. The pictures I have are from 2006 and 2007 in early to late June. The first three years there was only one of these bugs. In 2007 there was family. I hope you can let me know what kind of insect this is. Thanks,
Bryan Soukup
Hi Bryan,
The group photo you have submitted shows a group of Giant Ichneumons, Megarhyssa atrata, in the process of laying eggs and probably mating. The female has the long stinger-like ovipositor that she uses to lay eggs in the wood. The food for the larvae are wood boring grubs. The males are smaller and do not possess the ovipositor. The single image is of a female. The Giant Ichneumons will not sting you as they are incabable. We wish your group photo had been closer. Perhaps this year you can get us a nice close-up of the males and females together.
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Posted 16 July 2007
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hey what is this bug??
i found it in my back yard in brier Washington. im going to collage to become an entomologist!!!!! thank you so much, i hope you can tell me what i found!!!!!!!
blake oswold
Hi Blake,
This is an Ichneumon. We are inclined to guess that it is a Megarhyssa species, but it does not match any specimens on BugGuide. In 2004, we received a nearly identical specimen that Eric Eaton identified as Megarhyssa nortoni. The specimens pictured on BugGuide are brown and yellow, not black and white, which has us puzzled. There is also a photo posted on an Australian website where Megarhyssa nortoni has been introduced as a biological control agent for the European Wood Wasp, Sirex noctilio. Eric Eaton quickly wrote back with this comment: “Hi, Daniel: Well, I’m wondering now if the ichneumons are even in the GENUS Megarhyssa! I can’t be absolutely positive. I know there are sizable ichneumons in other genera that closely resemble Megarhyssa, especially in the western U.S. Eric”
WNY Wasps
Fantastic site! These wasps(?) were located at the edge of a hollowed out section of a tree in southwestern New York State. Could they be male and female American Pelecinid Wasps? I’m not positive because their coloration is somewhat different from others I have seen. Thanks.
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
We believe these are male Giant Ichneumons, Megarhyssa atrata. Eric Eaton writes on BugGuide: “I did some reading recently, and apparently that shovel-like appendange on the end of his abdomen allows him to mate with a female while she is still in the tree, prior to her emergence! Sometimes you will see a group of males waiting patiently for a female to emerge from a log or dead standing tree.”
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Posted 13 July 2007
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Ichneumon
Hi,
Last weekend I was lucky enough to observe a large meeting of Ichneumons (dozens at times), males and females, on a bug stressed elm tree in Prescott, AZ. Our local ‘bugman’ Carl Olson, associate Curator of the Dept. of entomology of the U of AZ, was so kind to identify them for me: Megarhyssa (I got that far with my German Insect book and your site) macrurus icerosticta (Michener). The males in the first pic are around 1", the females including the ovipositor up to 5". This all happened during an outdoor art show, so instead of selling my paintings, I found myself explaining over and over again the complex procreation of Ichneumon to lots of curious and fascinated folks.
Margarethe
Hi again Margarethe,
We are especially interested in the photo of the male Ichneumons since we almost always get requests to identify females.
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Posted 07 July 2007
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Giant ichneumon wasp
I thought you might want a pic of a giant ichneumon wasp. Body length: 3 inches, ovipositor: 3.5 inches, total 6.5 inches! At first I thought it was some type of crane fly, because it did not have the typical wasp shape, but I think it is a megarhyssa ichneumon wasp. It let me get to as close as 12 inches then got nervous if I got closer. The stump is a maple stump. It is trying to lay eggs in an existing hole.
Chuck
Grand Rapids, MI
Hi Chuck,
This is an Ichnuemon, Megarhyssa macrurus.
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Posted 28 June 2007
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more Giant Ichneumon
Hi Folks,
Here are a few nice pics of (what I assume are) Giant Ichneumon from trees in our yard. Take care,
Andre Paquette
Hi Andre,
Thanks for sending us your images of two female Megarhyssa atrata laying eggs.
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Posted 11 June 2007
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bug with long tail
I figured out from your website that this is probably the Giant Ichneumon. I just thought you might like a couple of more pictures. These were taken on a dead stump in a suburb of Minneapolis, MN.
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thank you for sending in your lovely image of Megarhyssa atrata, the most commonly depicted Giant Ichneumon in written texts. IT is your second photo that really impresses us. You have captured that female Megarhyssa atrata ovipositing while a female Megarhyssa macrurus (we believe) looks on. Your photos are great.
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Posted 04 June 2007
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Huge Hornet or Wasp?
Hi I found this on one of our trees in the front yard. I wanted to know if you could tell me what kind of bug it is and what it’s doing with it’s extremely long tail?
Scott
Hi there Scott,
This is one of the Giant Ichneumons in the genus Megarhyssa, probably Megarhyssa macrurus. Giant Ichneumons are non-stinging relatives of wasps. This female is ovipositing. The long stingerlike “tail” is her ovipositor and it enables her to lay eggs deep in borer infested wood. The food for the young Megarhyssa is the larval form of wood boring insects like Horntails.
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Posted 13 May 2007
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