strange insect in my garden
My sons were in the garden and noticed this "yellow headed monster" – it seemed to have a long proboscis inserted into the base of our maple tree, and its abdomen slowly started turning from black to white, as if it were emptying itself into the tree. I used a stick and "encouraged" it to remove this from the tree, and the abdomen went back to black. There were actually three long black probosces coming from the end of the abdomen. Any ideas? Thank you very much. p.s. Is there anything I can or should do about this? a friend suggested injecting vinegar into the site where the eggs were likely laid. Would this work? Thank you.
Tara

Hi Tara,
We love your letter on so many levels, but especially for the interesting way you described the oviposition of a female Giant Ichneumon, Megarhyssa atrata. This is actually a beneficial insect. She is laying eggs in wood that has wood boring grubs. Her larva will consume the grubs and not harm your trees. She has an ovipositor, not a proboscis. We are also intrigued with the vinegar suggestion. Not sure, but is sounds as if vinegar might be effective in controlling some insect pests.

hornet-wasp bug
Was about to cut a part of a maple tree down when i was face to face with 10 of these guys, was wondering if you might know what the are. the have long tails that stretch out 4”
Mark

Hi Mar,
This is a female Megarhyssa atrata, a Giant Ichneumon. She is ovipositing, meaning using that stingerlike ovipositor to lay eggs on wood boring grubs that are feeding on the dead and dying wood of your tree. The larval Ichneumon will feed on the wood boring grubs.

Please help me figure this one out
Hi there.
My name is Kenneth. I was taking a bus home from niagara falls to London (ontario), me and my friend got laid over at the bus stop in "Burlington" (ontarip, not sure if the locations are going to help or not so yea.) but this gaint bug just fewl up and landed on the tree not even 2 fet away from me.. and it scared the crap outta me lol. I just wanted to know what kinda of bug it was. i’ll attach a copy of my picture here. (took the picture using my macro lens, so hopefully you can see it clearly) in the picture here. i really should of put something else in the shot just for scaling.. but i didnt think of it.. too scared lol. but the stinger (or what looks like a stinger :S ) was at least 6 inchs long. the body was about an inch and a half please if you could help me understand what this bug is. maybe next time i wont be soo scared of it. lol thanks. feel free to contact me at this address

Hi Kenneth,
While we understand your fear of the unknown insect with the six inch long stinger, we can assure you that this Giant Ichneumon is perfectly harmless. We believe this is Megarhyssa macrurus, but it might be another member of the genus. Your specimen is a female, as evidenced by her long ovipositor, not stinger. She oviposits her eggs deep inside dead and dying wood since the larvae feed on wood boring grubs. Through some complex sensory perception, she manages to locate the host grub for her larva and deposits the egg where larva will find host. It is not entirely clear if she oviposits directly onto the grub, or into the tunnel the grub has bored into the wood. We are currently researching the brilliant and interesting 17th Century naturalist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian in preparation for a lecture we will give next month at the Getty. Merian pursued her fascination with caterpillar metamorphosis to the Amazon jungles of Surinam in the year 1699. Her quest to document the wonders of the exotic new world on originated in Germany, when, as a child of thirteen, she began to illustrate insect metamorphosis, including all stages and food plants of the caterpillars she located in her garden. She produced work at a time when the scientific community still believed in Spontaneous Generation, and she could not figure out why some pupa, or date pits as she called them, developed into butterflies and moths while others produced wasps and flies. Flies like Tachnid Flies and wasps like Ichneumons and Braconids parasitize the larvae and pupae of other insects, resulting in the confusion that Merian encountered while trying to unravel the wonders of life on this planet (and beyond) by direct observation. While that is way more information than you requested, the bottom line is that to this day, we still understand so little about the world around us, and one careless decision just might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, producing irreparable harm to our planet. While we believe that life will not be completely destroyed, that straw just might lead to mass species extinctions, including, perhaps, the human species. Thank you for taking the time to observe the world around you.

Found this on my wall
Hi Bugman!
I just want to start off by saying that I LOVE this site. It’s so helpful in identifying bugs all over the place. This morning, I found this bug sitting on a wall, and I have to say, he scared the pants off of me! Any idea what kind it is? At first glance I thought roach, then I looked at it a little closer, and thought, maybe it’s some weird mosquito or wasp that I haven’t seen before. I live in Alpharetta, Georgia… about 40 minutes south of the north Georgia Mountains, just to give a range for this bug. Any help identifying him would be appreciated! Thanks!
Vikki

Hi Vikki,
This is an Ichneumon, and it is a wasp. Ichneumons are parasitic on other insects, most often wood boring insects, and the female lays eggs with a long ovipositor. Most Ichneumons do not sting, but we have heard from Eric Eaton that some species can sting.

Thanks so much for letting me know! I really do appreciate all your hard work with the site and keeping up with the billions of requests you get.
Vikki Shifrin

Hi Vikki,
Your response made us chuckle. We will check with our web host, but we don’t think we have reached our first billion letters yet. We can tell you for certain there has not been a billion answers.

two sp. of ichneumon ovipositing together
Hi Bugman,
Thanks for your helpful comments and photos of ichneumons. My brother took this picture next to his house in Bloomington MN that might be nice for your collection. We identified the two ichneumons using your page; if I read correctly, it’s a Megarhyssa macrurus and a Megarhyssa atrata laying eggs side by side.
Allan

Hi Allen,
Thank you for sending us your brother’s fabulous photograph. It is one of the best images we have received in a long time. Your identification is correct, with Megarhyssa atrata on the right. Out of curiosity: Does your brother have a name? or, Is he just your brother?

Hi Daniel,
My brother’s name is Jon, and he deserves all the credit! All the best,
Allan

weird flying orange antennae big bug in Canada
Hi. Awesome website!
I checked through and can’t find this weird flying bug with a black body (that it holds flipped up, over its head – although the 2nd pic I did get in normal position), and orange antennae. I’m always photographing butterflies and bugs and love their beauty, however I have to admit this ‘thing’ scared me! It’s about 2-3 inches long, and I had never before seen it in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. Many thanks
Fran

Hi Fran,
We thought this was a male Ichneumon in the genus Megarhyssa, but we were wrong. See Below.

Many thanks. If it’s any help: when my sister and I first spotted it: it looked like it had just wings and antennae, like it was trying to stuff its body into the crack in the tree. (weird). Then it had it flipped over its back most of the time, and only for one ‘wiggle’ did it appear normal, then back to this position. Looking forward to your reply. Best regards,
Fran.

Correction: (07/31/2007)
Eric Eaton set us straight. Here is what he wrote: “Hi, Daniel: That is an ichneumon wasp, but NOT a Megarhyssa. We have images over at Bugguide identified as Gnamptopelta obsidianator, but I don’t know any more than that. Females of that species lack the long ovipositors.
Eric”