Spider wasp? Fly? What is this? I’m stumped
Location: Seminole, Oklahoma
August 5, 2010 2:52 pm
I spent about an hour looking through photos of flies and wasps, sawflies and I never found anything that matched this little guy. It was probably about 3/4” long and moved very much like a spider wasp, but did pause for my picture, presumably to figure out what the heck my intentions were. Thanks again!
Amy Goodman
Ichneumon
Hi Amy,
This is a Parasitic Hymenopteran in the superfamily Ichneumonoidea which contains the Ichneumons and Braconids. As you can see from BugGuide, this is an extensive subfamily. We browsed the possibilities and we found a very close match with the genus Lanugo on BugGuide. It does not seem exact, but it is quite close.
Ichneumon
¶ Posted 05 August 2010 § ‡ ° Giant Ichneumon in New Jersey
Location: Newton, New Jersey
July 20, 2010 6:50 pm
From a distance, I thought this was a dragonfly holding its wings in a funny position…then I saw the ovipositor, twice the length of the body. Is this a giant ichneumon, Megarhyssa nortoni? This is a first for me. It is resting on a grape leaf, near a rotting stump (perhaps after laying eggs?).
Northwestern New Jersey; photo taken July 20, 2010.
Jeannie
Giant Ichneumon
Hi Jeannie,
You are correct that this is a Giant Ichneumon in the genus Megarhyssa, but we get a little murky at the species level. We think that there is a very good possibility that your Giant Ichneumon is Megarhyssa nortoni, but we would also not discount Megarhyssa macrurus. According to BugGuide, the range of Megarhyssa macrurus includes New Jersey, and the range of Megarhyssa nortoni includes nearby Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
Giant Ichneumon
Your photos are all so great we have decided to post all three.
Giant Ichneumon
¶ Posted 20 July 2010 § ‡ ° Dragonfly? Wasp? Hybrid?
June 8, 2010
I have lived in Vermont all my life but have never seen this before . Can you identify what this is?
Dave D.
Vermont
Giant Ichneumon
Hi Dave,
This is a Giant Ichneumon in the genus Megarhyssa, and she is a female. The long stingerlike ovipositor is used by the female to deposit her eggs deep inside wood that is infested with wood boring larvae of the Pigeon Horntail, the exclusive food for this parasitoid relative of wasps.
Giant Ichneumon
¶ Posted 09 June 2010 § ‡ ° giant ichneumon survived windshield
June 2, 2010
This hit my windshield very lightly, and stayed for the rest of my ride home. Sorry the pictures are through my windshield, but there was NO WAY I was getting out of my car with that bad boy (or girl, actually) creeping around! You had other pics but this seemed more close up & I thought you might like them. Found in the Raleigh, NC area, end of April. Enjoy your site!
Creeped out but still fasinated
Raleigh NC
Giant Ichneumon
Dear Creeped out,
This is one interesting image of a Giant Ichneumon in the genus Megarhyssa. We believe it is Megarhyssa macrurus, which is profiled on BugGuide.
I had my husband come out & flick it off my car before I’d get out, and I’m still thanking him for that! Glad you liked the pic well enough to post on your site (I’m somebody now lol), take care & keep up the good work.
Unknown possible bee?
May 28, 2010
Hi bugman,
I found this bug in my kitchen on a wooded mountain in northern Maryland a few evenings ago. It has transparent folded wings that aren’t visible in the picture. It’s between 1/4 and 1/2 an inch long. Its patterns are very beautiful and have great contrast, and it has a small black eye surrounded by white on each side of its head as well as black and white stripes on a sort of yellowish body. I’ve never seen this bug before that I remember. I’m really not sure what it is. I’d appreciate any info. you could offer.
Thanks so much!
Steiv
Thurmont, MD
Ichneumon
Hi Steiv,
This is an Ichneumon Wasp, and we believe we have identified it as Messatoporus discoidalis on BugGuide, though Ichneumons are notoriously difficult to identify. Ichneumons are parasitoid wasps, and according to BugGuide, depending upon the species, their prey includes: “a great variety of hosts (mostly immature stages) is used, though most species attack only a few host types; some infest spiders and other non-insect arthropods.“ If our identification is correct, your Ichneumon is in the tribe Cryptini, and according to BugGuide: “Cryptini search for hosts primarily among foliage (rather than in the soil or ground litter) and have larger average size.“
¶ Posted 29 May 2010 § ‡ ° Long tailed bug
May 27, 2010
Yellow head and antenae, very long tail. WIngs (two) and rather clumsy. Exploring pansies in planter and will fall off.
M. Temple
New England – Medfield MA
Giant Ichneumon
Dear M. Temple,
Many people are shocked or frightened when they encounter a Giant Ichneumon, Megarhyssa atrata, for the first time. The Giant Ichneumon is a parasitoid insect that preys upon the wood boring larvae of another non-stinging wasp relative, the Pigeon Horntail. A female Giant Ichneumon, like the one in your photo, locates a wood boring Horntail larva and then drills into the stump or trunk with her five inch ovipositor. Male Giant Ichneumons do not have an ovipositor.
1
¶ Posted 27 May 2010 § ‡ ° Five-eyed wasp?
February 14, 2010
Hi Bug People!
On my weekend hike in the nothwestern Negev desert, Israel, I came across this wasp. I don’t even know where to start looking for information on it. It wasn’t very active and let me take close ups.
Later, when I looked at the pictures, I noticed three extra ‘eyes’ on its head. Any ideas that might point me in the right direction would be appreciated!
It was about 2.5cm (1 inch) long, dull orange, with very long antennae. I saw no ovipositor so I’m guessing it’s a male.
Thanks!
Ben
Northwest Negev, Israel
Ichneumon
Hi again Ben,
WE are relatively certain this is an Ichneumon, a family of parasitory wasps that is nearly impossible to identify to the species or even genus level without inspection of the actual specimen by an expert. Many wasps have three simple ocelli in addition to two compound eyes.
Ichneumon
¶ Posted 14 February 2010 § ‡ ° Another Australian Flying Bug
February 11, 2010
Another Australian Flying Bug
Your letter to the bugman Hello again, Bugman
I’ve been trying to identify this one, but I’m not sure if it’s a fly or something else.
Ridou Ridou
Sydney, Australia
Orchid Dupe Wasp from Australia
Hi again Ridou,
This is not a fly, but rather, a Hymenopteran, a member of the order that consists of Ants, Bees and Wasps. We believe this is Brachonid, a parasitic wasp that can be identified in part through the long and slender antennae. Braconids are quite similar to Ichneumons, another possibility. We have not had any luck finding a matching photo, and we will continue to search. There are some beautiful Braconids posted on the Brisbane Insect website, but none that match your specimen.
Thanks Daniel, I think you’re right. Apparently there’re about 800 species of Braconid (or Brachonid) in Australia! I found this site (this is the google cached version of it, since the actual page didn’t load) with a drawing of a similar species to mine:
74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:UmIoSwzWsWEJ:www.faunanet.gov.au/wos/factfile.cfm%3FFact_ID%3D232+Brachonid&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au
Hi Ridou,
We couldn’t get your link to work, but we did find images of both Braconids and Ichneumons on the Life Unseen Website. We now believe your wasp is an Orange Dupe Wasp, Lissopimpla excelsa, one of the Ichneumons. One photo in particular looks identical to your specimen. The Oz Insects website calls this species the Orchid Dupe, and indicates: “The Orchid Dupe Wasp is a medium sized wasp with mainly orange body and dark wings. The abdomen has broad black band with four white spots on each side. The long thin antennae curl upwards at the ends. Females have a stout black ovipositor that is about half the body length. It is called the Orchid Dupe because some species of orchids mimic the odour and appearance of female Lissopimpla wasps. The male Lissopimpla wasps mistake the flowers for females pollinating the orchid.“
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