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Hi Bug Man,
We found this wasp like insect today. We have never seen anything like it. Hope you can tell us something about it. The first photo is taken up against a yellow lighter that is 8cm long. Looking forward to hearing from you. Many thanks and best wishes,
Tina Chambers
Wanganui
New Zealand
Hi Tina,
This is a species of Ichneumon. Ichneumons are parasitic wasps. Many lay eggs deep inside wood where the host wood-boring insects live.
What is this?
Our 3 1/2 year old son Jacob found this in our wood pile today (4/11) and we have no idea what it is. We live in Northern California.
Sara & Jacob Ysunza
Hi Sara and Jacob,
This is an Ichneumon. Ichnuemons are nonstinging relatives of wasps. The female uses her long ovipositor to deposit eggs into the host insect. Many Ichneumons parasitize wood boring insects, hence her presence in a wood pile. Our guess is that this is a species of Arotes.
Can you help me identify this skyscraper bug???
I spotted this interesting bug on the outside of a window on the 39th floor of a skyscraper in downtown Chicago. Is it an Ichneumon? It was not very large, maybe and inch and a half in length (including the stinger/ovipositer). I can’t seem to find out exactly what it is, and the fact that it was so high up on the building has me stumped. I see spiders in abundance outside the windows at certain times of the year, but never anything like this.
Thanks,
Nicole
Wow Nicole,
This is the best photo we have received in a long long time. Yes, it is an Ichnuemon.
Weird Waspy Looking Thing
Hi WTB,
We live in Clearwater, FL and found this sort of waspy looking bug on the side of the garage. We’ve never seen anything quite like it and wondered if you could help us identify it! Thanks.
Martin & Lisa Hine
Hi Martin and Lisa,
We believe this to be an Ichneumon. Ichneumons belong to the order Hymenoptera which includes wasps. Ichneumons are important parasite species that lay eggs singly on a host insect. The larva then begins to eat the internal organs which results in the death of the host. If it were not for Ichnuemons, other species of insects would overpopulate, hence they are important in the balance of nature.
Ichneumon Wasps?
I believe that these are Ichneumon wasps. We watched them for quite some time as they took turns laying eggs. The "fan" at the tail was iridescent and pulsating. Thanks!
Kip Evoy
Hi Kip,
Congratulations on your stunningly beautiful image of two female Giant Ichneumons, Megarhyssa atrata, ovipositing. We especially love the tiny centipede visible under the bark. We do not fully understand the mechanics governing the ovipositor, but this membrane is visible on numerous photos in our archives and elsewhere.
Horntail?
Hi Bugman,
Very cool site; I must check in at least once a week. I am an avid macrophotographer and came across this insect in Delaware on Nov. 14th. I am quessing it may be a Horntail. The last tergite of the abdomen has a spike that resembles an ovipositor. It was found on a pokeweed in a white pine forest. Its body lenght was about 2.5 cm minus the antenna and spike. I checked my field guides and did a few internet searchs to no avail. Any ID assistance would be appreciated. Thank you,
William Brozy
Hi William,
What a gorgeous photo. We flipped it to maximize its size on our site. This is a Parasitic Wasp in the superfamily Ichneumonidae. We are not sure if it is a true Ichneumon, or a Brachonid. We will see if Eric Eaton can provide an answer. Eric wrote in that in his opinion, this is an Ichneumon.
ichneumon photos
on dead pin oak in SE Pennsylvania
Peter
Hi Peter,
Thanks for sending your photo of a female Megarhyssa macrurus ovipositing.
Giant Ichneumon Coloring
Found these terrifying gentle giants in my backyard today. I was wondering what the difference is between the beautiful yellow-auburn colored ones and the shiny black one. There was only one shiny black one that I could see and it was the only one flying around the tree. All the rest were hanging out, depositing their eggs. Thanks!
Jera
Hi Jera,
Your photo shows two species from the genus Megarhyssa. The black specimen is Megarhyssa atrata, the species typically called the Giant Ichneumon. The brown specimen is probably Megarhyssa macrurus.
Dragonfly / Hornet / ?
Good Day,
I haven’t seen this type of flying insect in our area (Southern Ontario) until it tried to dive bomb my head while I was sitting on our deck. It eventually landed on our shed and I was able to take a couple of shots. It’s body is about 2" long. Including the tail it is about 5-6" long! Thanks for any info you can provide. Great site!
Chris Glos
Windsor, Ontario
Hi Chris,
This is a Giant Ichneumon, Megarhyssa macrurus, and though it is related to wasps, it does not sting. That is an ovipositor for laying eggs inside wood where the larva parasitize boring insects.
pictures of Giant Ichneumon?
Dear Bugman,
We snapped a couple of great pictures of a female Giant Ichneumon (genus megarhyssa macrurus) on a wall of our body shop in Akron, Ohio. My understanding it that it’s a type of parasitic wasp, and the long "tail" is actually the ovipositor that the wasp uses to insert its eggs deep into bark or soft wood. Does this sound correct? Do we have the correct bug? We thought it was odd that she was hanging around inside all day.
Thanks!
Judith & Kevin Mohr
Hi Judith and Kevin,
Your information and identification are both absolutely correct.
Anecdote
An humorous, albeit tragic, anecdote that I thought you might enjoy: I work in a paving/construction office which is connected to a large open garage/storage area which is rather exposed to the outside. Our safety director needed some papers that had been stored away in the mezzanine area above the garage. While in the mezzanine, she encountered this Giant Ichneumon, which repeatedly “dive-bombed” her. Not knowing what this bug was and mistaking its ovipositor for a monstrous stinger, she screamed, tripped and fell, wet herself (luckily she had a pair of extra pants downstairs), and continued screaming, drawing a small crowd of concerned coworkers who gathered at the bottom of the stairway to the mezzanine. One brave individual ran upstairs and, sadly, killed the poor bug as our safety director ran down the stairs ranting about its gigantic proportions and “prehistoric” features. Intrigued by her tale of wonder, a coworker and I went up to look at the dead bug, and were intrigued but unimpressed. There were many guesses as to what the bug was, ranging from a mayfly, to a cicada wasp, to a robber fly, but thanks to your website I was able to determine that it was a Giant Ichneumon. My coworker took the dead bug home and placed it into some heated glycerine to form the bar of soap pictured, so that it could preserved and returned to our safety director to commemorate the event. While I know the insect’s untimely death is saddening, I found this story to be too ridiculous to not send to you. Thanks for your amazing website!!!
Jen Price
Hi Jen,
We are greatly amused at the irony that your safety director tripped and fell running from a totally harmless Giant Ichneumon. Surely, thousands of needless accidents occur, perhaps even daily, because of the fear generated by arthropod encounters. We are also amused as we toyed with the idea of having homemade soaps with plastic insects imbedded inside made available on our giftshop page.
WTF is this bug?
Hi, I’m from Denver, Colorado, and we dont get a lot of crazy insects on account of the dry-weather and cold and whatnot, but for some reason, I was out working in my backyard yesterday and I found this bizarre looking thing that I’d never seen before in my many years in the Rocky Mountains…and have NO idea what it is! Any ideas? (I have huge huge high-res photos if you’d like them for additional detail) Thanks a bunch!
Chris
Hi Chris,
We are sensing real domain potential with the “WTF is that Bug?” website. This is one of the Giant Ichneumons, probably Megarhyssa macrurus. The female deposits eggs with that stingerlike ovipositor and the young prey on wood boring insects.
