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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Giant Ichneumon

What is this?
August 11, 2009
I saw this critter in North East Ohio. It was boring into a tree with its 4 or 5 inch tail…the body was maybe 2 to 3 inches long. What the heck is it?
Kenny
North Eastern Ohio

Giant Ichneumon ovipositing

Giant Ichneumon ovipositing

Hi Kenny,
You have spotted a Giant Ichneumon, Megarhyssa macrurus, in the process of ovipositing.  Giant Ichneumons are parasitoids whose larvae feed on the wood boring larvae of the Pigeon Horntail and other Wood Wasps.  The female Giant Ichneumon locates a wood boring larva and then uses her lengthy ovipositor to deposit her egg in the proximity of the wood boring larva. You can find more information on BugGuide.

Posted 12 August 2009 § Ichneumons ‡ Comments (1) °

Ensign Wasp escapes becoming Unnecessary Carnage

The UNKILLABLE bug
August 11, 2009
This bug started to appear a few weeks ago, I found the first one on the living room and quickly squashed it. A couple of days later there was another one and killed it too. About a week later AGAIN the same bug (maybe) came back, I even started to think that it was the exactly the same bug I killed before.
Yesterday I killed this bug again and left it in the living room with a Pringles cap on top of it, the insect was moving and it was trapped.
A few minutes later I checked it again and it was gone, it disappeared as my son claims.
I found it again flying like nothing, I believe this bug can seriously take a beating.
I took this picture with a zoom lens because the ceiling is about 20 feet high.
So if you can help me identify this, I dont know if it is dangerous or not, I have killed one with my bare hands.
Thanks.
P.S. Please don’t make my email public.
Father of Two
McAllen, TEXAS

Ensign Wasp
Ensign Wasp

Dear Father of Two,
You do not want to kill Ensign Wasps.  They will not sting you and they are beneficial since they parasitize the eggs of cockroaches.  Allowing the Ensign Wasps to live will reduce the Cockroaches in your area.  Though the wasp in your image is alive, we want to tag your letter as Unnecessary Carnage because it nearly met with a squashing end like its predecessors.  We do not publicize email addresses, but submitting a letter to our website is done with the understanding that we post content to our site.

Posted 11 August 2009 § ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged:

Giant Ichneumon: female of the species

Wood hornet?
July 31, 2009
This bug was flying around the lights in front of my house in Richmond, Virginia on the night of July 29, 2009. I think it could be a wood hornet and I think the whip-like tail could be an ovipositor (thanks to the information your website provided!) but I am not sure. If this is an ovipositor, why is it so long? It seemed as though the bug had very little control of it as it flew around the lights and banged into the side of the house!
Steph
Richmond, VA

Female Giant Ichneumon

Female Giant Ichneumon

Hi Steph,
Coincidentally, a few minutes ago we posted an image of a male Megarhyssa atrata, and in that response, we described the female.  Your photo is a female Giant Ichneumon, Megarhyssa atrata.  She does have an ovipositor.  Giant Ichneumons prey upon the larvae of Pigeon Horntails and other wood boring insects that infest dead and dying trees.  The female uses her long ovipositor to deposit eggs deep inside infested wood, “drilling” until she locates the tunnel of a wood boring grub.  That is where she lays the egg. We have several nice images of Giant Ichnuemons ovipositing on our website, including this one from June 2008.  We have heard that Giant Ichneumons may be attracted to artificial lights at night.

Posted 31 July 2009 § Ichneumons ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Ichneumon

Crane Fly? Damsel Fly? Really Off-Course Fly?
July 31, 2009
Hey there – Here’s a very interesting looking flying insect found yesterday, July 30th, at Massassauga Point Conservation Area, Prince Edward County, Ontario. Very sunny day, humid, temperatures around 28 Celsius. My wife works for the conservation authority and was in the field when she spotted it. I’ve done as much Internet searching as I can but cannot identify the insect. It was in a brushy, wooded area when the photo was taken, and when in flight its legs dangled much like a mud dobber, and it has orange antennae like a wood wasp, but it’s the tail end that has us stumped. It hovered much like a wasp when in flight.
Any help would be appreciated – thanks!
Glenn May-Anderson, Belleville, Ontario
Massassauga Point, Prince Edward County, Ontario

Male Megarhyssa atrata

Ichneumon

Hi Glenn,
We receive many identification requests for female Giant Ichneumons in the genus Megarhyssa, but we receive very few images of the males.  This is a male Megarhyssa atrata.  The female has a three inch long ovipositor that is often mistaken for a stinger.  She uses her ovipositor to deposit eggs into dead and dying wood that is infested with wood boring larvae, the food for the larval Ichneumon.

Correction from Eric Eaton
August 4, 2009
Hi, Daniel:
… A couple other things:
The “Giant ichneumon:  male of the species” is incorrect.  The ichneumon in the image is not even in the same subfamily, and it is likely a female.
… Keep up the great job, Daniel:-)
Eric

Posted 31 July 2009 § Ichneumons ‡ Comments (0) °

Giant Ichneumon

Wasp Style Insect Found in Ohio
July 27, 2009
Hello – Unfortunately I am not much of a bug expert, just a long distance boyfriend trying to see if my girlfriend and our new puppy have to be worried about getting stung by this bugger (no pun intended… well.. maybe a little)
This guy was found in a wooded area in a residential district surrounded by homes and larger lawns. They are usually found clumped together in groups of 4 to 5, and are not always active. When the pictures were taken they were barely stirred and did not fly around a lot at all. The biggest feature, although hard to see in the photos, is a whip-tail looking stinger perhaps that is honestly longer than the body, curling under the length of the insect. Please check the photos for more information. A name/identifier and any dangers it could cause to smaller animals would be great.
Cheers, Ryan L Montgomery, USAF
Dayton Ohio

Giant Ichneumon

Giant Ichneumon

Hi Ryan,
Your guy is a gal and she is a Giant Ichneumon, Megarhyssa atrata.  Though she is related to wasps, she is incapable of stinging, so she is harmless.  What appears to be a giant stinger is actually the ovipositor which the female Ichneumon uses to deposit her eggs inside dead or dying wood where the larval food, wood boring larvae, can be found.  Ichneumons are considered parasitic Hymenopterans.

Posted 27 July 2009 § Ichneumons ‡ Comments (0) °

Giant Ichneumon: Dead from involuntary insect slaughter

Strange wasp
July 25, 2009
This painful creature was found at my ex-husbands house. It came down from the attic (comforting I know). It has, what looks like, three long stingers about three + inches long. It has yello on its head/antennas and very long back legs and black wings.
Samantha
East Tennessee

Giant Ichneumon: Dead by human hands???

Giant Ichneumon: Dead by human hands???

Dear Samantha,
We are guessing this Giant Ichneumon, Megarhyssa atrata, came down from the attic alive and we are also guessing it is not asleep in this photograph.  We are going to make the leap that is was killed before the photograph was taken.  Giant Ichneumons, despite their frightening appearance, are perfectly harmless.  They are parasitic relatives of wasps and they are incapable of stinging.  What looks like a stinger is in reality the ovipositor of the female and she uses it to lay eggs in the tunnels of wood boring insects like the Pigeon Horntail and other Wood Wasps.  The newly hatched Giant Ichneumon larva then locates the larva of the Wood Wasp and begins to feed upon it.  Coincidentally, we also just received an image of a dead Wood Wasp which we will post next. Since this Giant Ichneumon was killed unnecessarily, we will tag it as Unnecessary Carnage.

I do not appreciate your accusations. It was alive, I had to put it in a container at my ex-husbands house and bring it to mine. It did die on the way over, it was not killed. If I wanted to kill it it would be smooshed, I cannot spray pesticide as my infant is usually close by me. You have been very rude, I will know not to come to you again if I have another question about a bug.
Thanks for your time.

Dear Samantha,
It was not our intention to be rude, but to answer your question as to the identity of your insect, and to try to educate you and others out there about its harmlessness.  The fact that the death of the Giant Ichneumon was involuntary in no way changes that its death was unnecessary, though we are pleased to know that its demise was unintentional.  Insects may die if they are kept for long periods of time in tightly closed containers, and it is surprising how many times unintentional death by suffocation or heat exhaustion occurs, and we are not speaking about insects.  It it is your choice to no longer use this free service that we offer, and we promise we will not force you to visit our site for either educational or entertainment purposes, nor will we demand that you send us additional questions about insects and other arthropods.  In the future, should you have questions about creatures that might potentially harm your infant, you are free to pass over our website and search for your answers elsewhere on the world wide web, and we promise not to blame you for never writing us again.

Posted 25 July 2009 § Ichneumons ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:

Giant Ichneumon

Wasp or Dragonfly?
July 19, 2009
While hiking around in the Umatilla National Forest near the Washington/Oregon border, the wife and I stumbled upon this little guy. Luckily the wings were still damp and it was unable to fly away. It was about 3-3 1/2 inches in length and as you can see it just seems exotic.
Peter H.
Umatilla National Forest about 25 miles south of Pomeroy WA

Giant Ichneumon

Giant Ichneumon

Hi Peter,
Our blood pressure is a bit high right now since we just got done posting our Sixth Nasty Reader Award.  We really wanted to send a nice response after dealing with that.  This is a Giant Ichneumon, most likely Megarhyssa nortoni, as evidenced by images posted to BugGuide.  Giant Ichneumons are non-stinging relatives of wasps.  Your photo is of a female whose lengthy ovipositor is barely visible in the photo.  The female Giant Ichneumon uses her lengthy ovipositor to deposit her eggs in dead and dying wood that is riddled with wood boring larvae.  The larval Giant Ichneumon then feeds on the wood boring insect.

Posted 20 July 2009 § Ichneumons ‡ Comments (0) °

Ensign Wasp

housefly with long cricket legs
Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 7:54 PM
Hello,
This was flying all around my apartment in San Antonio, TX the other night and swooped in on me once. I was concerned because it had long dangling legs like a wasp. It was probably at least 90 degrees or warmer out. I don’t recall it making any noise but it was flying in kind of a slow hover pattern. Eventually it flew into a fan and alas it was no more. Looks like a cross between a housefly and cricket. Is it a juvenile cricket? Thanks.
Kate
San Antonio,TX 78212

Ensign Wasp

Ensign Wasp

Hi Kate,
You will probably lament this Ensign Wasp’s untimely demise after learning that Ensign Wasps in the family Evaniidae parasitize the egg capsules of Cockroaches.

Posted 04 July 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Unknown Ichneumon

Beautiful Ichneumon
Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 6:48 PM
Hello! I found this incredible creature flying around in the grass on a warm June night in Western Massachusetts. I think it is an ichneumon, but I just can’t seem to find out much more. Can you tell me its species? Thanks so much!
Jamie
Sheffield, MA

Unknown Ichneumon

Unknown Ichneumon

hi Jamie,
We agree that it is an Ichenumon, and we agree that it is beautiful, but we are uncertain of the exact species. We will contact Eric Eaton to see if he can provide any additional information. We will also post your letter in the hope that one of our readers knows more than we do. We would recommend that you either keep checking the posting to see if there has been a comment, or better yet, supply an additional comment to the posting with any additional information that may be helpful. Then if a reader provides a comment with an identification, you will automatically be notified.

Update
Daniel:
Yes, it is an ichneumon, but no telling what subfamily, let alone genus or species, without the specimen in hand.
Take care, enjoy the holiday weekend….
Eric

Posted 03 July 2009 § Ichneumons ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Giant Ichneumon

Horse Hair Tail Insect
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 5:49 PM
These weird looking bugs are hanging around tree stumps, which have many holes in them. I don’t know if these insects made the holes or if they are trying to lay eggs in them, or get at the bugs in the dead stumps. The tail is almost like a strand of horse hair, about 4 inches long. The head, front legs and tentacles are bright yellow. It has a narrow body (black) about 1 1/2 inches in length and the wings are purple in color, 1 inch in length. As you can see in one of the pictures, the tail turns into a light green circular thing and the tail looks like it is rolled up in it. Then it will lose this thing and again have the horse hair like tail again. They also can fly. What the heck are these things?
Linda Mueller
St. Paul, Minnesota

Giant Ichneumon

Giant Ichneumon

Good Evening Linda,
You have Giant Ichneumons, Megarhyssa atrata, non-stinging relatives of wasps.  Giant Ichnuemons parasitize the larvae of wood boring insects like the Pigeon Horntail.  The female Giant Ichneumons locate the grubs deep inside the wood, and then use their stinger-like ovipositor to deposit an egg inside the tunnel inhabited by the larva.  When the egg hatches, the larval Giant Ichneumon locates the wood boring larva and parasitizes it. The holes you saw were probably produced when the wood boring larvae emerged as adults, or possibly by the Giant Ichneumon when it emerged.

Giant Ichneumon

Giant Ichneumon

Posted 20 June 2009 § Ichneumons ‡ Comments (0) °

Male Giant Ichneumon, possibly Megarhyssa atrata, or maybe Megarhyssa macrurus

Looks like a dragonfly, with wasp-like markings
Sun, May 24, 2009 at 6:31 PM
I saw this insect on the side of my house, it was roughly 2 inches long with a similar wingspread. I’m assuming it’s some kind of dragonfly, based on the mouth, wings, and body. I’ve never seen one with markings like this though, it reminds me of a wasp, with striking yellow-on-black. I also don’t recall seeing a dragonfly with antennae ever before. Any idea what this guy is?
Kyle, Hatfield MA
Hatfield, MA

Male Giant Ichenumon

Male Giant Ichenumon

Dear Kyle,
This is a male Giant Ichneumon in the genus Megarhyssa.  Giant Ichneumons are parasitoids that are closely related to wasps, but they do not sting.  Your photo is of particular significance because of its high quality and also because we very infrequently receive images of male Giant Ichneumons.  In July 2007, we received a wonderful image of several males awaiting the emergence of a female.   BugGuide has a photo of a male Megarhyssa atrata, the species we believe you have photographed, and the posting contains a significant commentary posing the possibility that it might be a related species, Megarhyssa macrurus, also a possibility in your case.  Most of the images we receive of Giant Ichneumons are of females, and a large number are ovipositing.  The female has an ovipositor that can be as long as four inches, and many of our readers mistake this for a stinger.  The female uses her ovipositor to deposit eggs deep inside dead and dying wood that contains wood boring grubs, often the larvae of the Pigeon Horntail.

Posted 25 May 2009 § Ichneumons ‡ Comments (1) °

American Pelecinid

Curled up tail and wings
Sat, May 9, 2009 at 5:57 PM
This bug was found outside, in the twin cities metro are of Minnesota. The size of the bug was rather small, a few centimeters. I hope the image is good enough for you to see and hopefully figure out what it is.
TK
Minnesota

American Pelecinid

American Pelecinid

Dear TK,
The very unique American Pelecinid, Pelecinus polyturator, is not likely to be confused with any other North American insect. Your specimen is a female, and she uses her unusual abdomen to parasitize the grubs of scarab beetles. According to BugGuide: “Parasitoids of insect larvae that feed on decomposing wood, etc. These include larvae of scarab beetles, esp. May Beetles ( Phyllophaga ). Also reported to parasitize wood-boring insects. Female thrusts ovipositor into soil to detect host, lays one egg on each. Pelecinid larva burrows into the beetle larva, killing it. Wasp larva scavenges remains and pupates there in soil. ” BugGuide also indicates this surprising information: “In North American populations, males are rare, and reproduction is apparently largely by parthenogenesis (Brues, 1928). In tropical populations (or species), males are more abundant.” Lastly, BugGuide also states: “Typically August-September. Reported July-August (Minnesota), June-September (North Carolina)” which could make this early sighting another indication of global warming. Insects are often quite adaptable, and changes in their habit force them to adjust quickly as their life cycles are generally less than a year.

Posted 10 May 2009 § ‡ Comments (0) °

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