Bug Id needed
Location: North Carolina, @ 15 miles west of I-95 and 10 miles south of Virginia border
November 19, 2011 5:36 pm
Hi Bugman,
We saw this beetle in the woods near Medoc, North Carolina (slightly south and west of Roanoke Rapids) sometime mid-November. It was on the underside of a fallen hickory-tree branch, I think. Please help me figure out what it is. Thank you!
Signature: Sanne King
Ichneumon, probably
Dear Sanne,
Your insect is not a beetle. It is a Parasitic Hymenopteran, a group of wasps that parasitizes other insects and arthropods, usually by laying eggs that develop into internal parasites that kill the host insect, so they are important natural biological control agents. We believe that this is most likely an Ichneumon (see BugGuide) or a Braconid (see BugGuide). With few exceptions, this is a very difficult group to identify to the species level.
Greetings Daniel,
Thank you for your reply. I am including a close-up of the little critter. You’re right, and we weren’t sure it was a beetle, but it looked so solid at first. The wings are quite opaque, and we didn’t notice any “wasp waist” or abdominal curvature. It was keeping very flat on the leaf. We’ve had no further luck in narrowing the species down.
Cheers, Sanne
There is no photo attached.
¶ Posted 21 November 2011 § ‡ ° Megarhyssa nortoni
Website:
November 14, 2011 10:42 pm
thank you for the photos that match my insect in question it was very helpful to know what it is – we are in central pa have never seen these before in our area
thanks again
Signature: kathleen
Megarhyssa nortoni by Sandy Mallet
Thanks for your sweet comment Kathleen. Since you did not submit a photo, we found a beautiful image of Megarhyssa nortoni, one of the Stump Stabbers, that was taken by Sandy Mallet and posted to BugGuide in 2007. It became a question of plagiarism when it was submitted to What’s That Bug? in 2010 by Leona Garrett.
¶ Posted 15 November 2011 § ‡ ° Tagged: fanmail Is this some sort of wasp?
Location: Northern Indiana (Goshen)
October 31, 2011 9:43 am
Can you help my family identify this bug/wasp/whatever-it-is? We found it on our sliding glass door last week (mid-October, late afternoonm, in Northern Indiana, weather is about 50 degrees F).
We strive to teach our children (ages 1 through 10) that bugs are fascinating, not scary, but this one looked rather menacing to all of us. So, we’re hoping for your help in identifying so that we can appreciate this glorious critter!
Signature: Many thanks! the Norris family
Stump Stabber
We might have figured it out…
Location: Goshen, Indiana
October 31, 2011 9:52 am
Just sent an email moments ago, and have since looked over your top ten. I think that the critter on our sliding glass door is a Giant Ichenumon? Thanks for your great website! Fascinating and fun!
Signature: The Norris family
Dear Norris Family,
We agree that you have identified one of the Giant Ichneumons in the genus Megarhyssa, though we are not certain of the species. We are especially fond of the common name Stump Stabber for these parasitic hymenopterans.
Stump Stabber
¶ Posted 31 October 2011 § ‡ ° Weird Insect!!
Location: Batavia, OHIO
October 14, 2011 10:29 pm
I was a few minutes from home today and saw this bug swarming toward my windshield, and finally landed and was whipping some kind of a tail or stinger around. It stayed on the window the rest of the way home and it actually terrified me to get out because I didn’t know if it could sting. What is this bug??
Signature: Mandy H.
Giant Ichneumon
Dear Mandy,
We can well imagine your fears considering the appearance of the Giant Ichneumon, however, they are perfectly harmless. What appears to be a stinger is an ovipositor for laying eggs deep inside tree branches and trunks that are infested with the larvae of wood boring insects. Stingers of bees and wasps are modified ovipositors, however the ovipositor of the Giant Ichneumon has not been modified to sting.
¶ Posted 16 October 2011 § ‡ ° It’s killing the trees!!!
Location: Avon, CT, USA
September 10, 2011 4:43 pm
Just wondering what kind of insect this is. I tried other bug identification sites and came up with nothing. Any help would be great. Thanks.
Signature: ???
Giant Ichneumon
Dear ???,
We have recently learned that Giant Ichneumons in the genus Megarhyssa, like the one in your photo, are commonly called Stump Stabbers because of the long ovipositor that the female inserts in stumps and dying trees. This Giant Ichneumon is not killing your trees. The health of the trees were most likely already compromised when the trees became infested with the larvae of a wood boring wasp called the Pigeon Horntail, our Bug of the Month for September. The Stump Stabbers are parasitic insects whose larvae prey upon the wood boring larvae of the Pigeon Horntails. We believe your Stump Stabber is Megarhyssa macrurus.
1
¶ Posted 10 September 2011 § ‡ ° Giant Wasp look-a-like damselfly
Location: Pandora, Ohio – NW OH Rural town on Creek
August 30, 2011 8:51 pm
Saw this giant bug today by the woodpile. I thought it was some sort of damsel fly, but it has antennae!? Sort of looks like a giant wasp too? Very weird. I live in NW Ohio on a creek. We were cutting down trees, and it was hanging out with a smaller mate, on the wood pile. Very docile and calm. Can you identify it ?
Signature: Itching to find out
Male Giant Ichneumon
Dear Itching to find out,
Stop your scratching. This is a male Giant Ichneumon in the genus Megarhyssa, probably Megarhyssa macrurus. The Giant Ichnuemons, we recently learned, are called Stump Stabbers because of the long ovipositor of the the female. We rarely get photos of male Giant Ichneumons, so we are very pleased to be able to post your beautiful images.
Male Stump Stabber
The hole in the wood in the lower right of one of your photos is most likely the exit hole of either this individual, one of its siblings, or possibly, its host insect the Pigeon Horntail. Giant Ichneumons parasitize the wood boring larvae of Wood Wasps like the Pigeon Horntail. Ichneumons are classified with wasps and bees in the order Hymenoptera. Thank you for including a photo with a human finger for scale.
Male Giant Ichneumon
Awesome ! Thanks for the info – - glad I could be of help as well ! I will go out again today to see if I see them again !
Itching
1
¶ Posted 31 August 2011 § ‡ ° Strange Bug?
Location: Zumbro Falls, MN (Mississippi River Vally)
August 14, 2011 3:59 pm
Hi,
We where camping and found this bug on a almost completely dead tree. What we though was a large wasp but after a closer look it wasn’t a wasp but some wasp/mayfly looking thing, we stood there and ask a lot of people walking by, and everyone was stumped, can you help?
Thanks,
Lars
Signature: ?no idea?
Giant Ichneumon Ovipositing
Hi Lars,
This Giant Ichnuemon, Megarhyssa atrata, is in the process of laying eggs. She is a parasitoid member of the wasp and bee order, and her prey are the wood boring larvae of a wood wasp known as the Pigeon Horntail.
¶ Posted 15 August 2011 § ‡ ° Flying Sap Eating bug?
Location: Long Island, NY
July 26, 2011 6:38 pm
This bug looks like some sort of dragon fly. If you look closely you will see 2 loops coming over the tail and then come together between the hind legs. This stick looking appendage? was then inserted into a round hole in the tree which looked like a hole made from a and or termite. The holes were as much as 2 inches deep. At the end of the tail where the 2 ”loops start looked like some sort of organ moving/pulsing. I think either the bug was eating the sap of this maple tree which was exposed by these holes or maybe laying eggs. What is it?
Signature: ?
Giant Ichenumon Ovipositing
Dear ?,
This is a Giant Ichneumon in the genus Megarhyssa, probably Megarhyssa macrurus. As trees age, portions of them begin to die and they become susceptible to disease and infestation. One of the insects that targets old and weak trees is the Pigeon Horntail, a wood wasp whose larva bore in the wood. Your creature, a Giant Ichneumon, is a parasite whose larvae feed on the larvae of the Pigeon Horntail. This female Giant Ichneumon is ovipositing. She will lay her eggs on or near the wood boring larva of the Pigeon Horntail, which she senses beneath the bark. Giant Ichneumons will not harm your tree, but you should know that your tree has already been compromised and is in a state of decline, however, it may still live for many years.
¶ Posted 27 July 2011 § ‡ ° Tagged: Top 10 
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