Crazy looking flying ant-like creature
Location: Victoria, B.C.
June 23, 2011 11:02 pm
Found this in the mid-spring. It was just sitting on these blossoms for hours. I saw another one of them but way smaller. So I thought perhaps this is a queen or something. But if you can see, it has a very long needle thing out the back end of it. It looks like a flying ant but very unique qualities. I really want to know what this is! Thank you in advance.
Signature: Well Done!

Ichneumon

Dear Well Done!,
This is some species of Icheumon, though we are uncertain of he species.  Ichneumons are parasitic relatives of wasps and bees.  The long stinger is an ovipositor that is an organ the female uses to lay eggs.  Ichneumons are parasitic on a variety of insects.

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Its huge!
Location: Southern New York State (Corning)
June 3, 2011 2:42 pm
We discovered this little guy when we were outside today, the tail on it was about three inches long to give you an idea of the size. I personally have never seen anything with a tail on it, much less the size this thing is.
Signature: Thanks!

Giant Ichneumon

This is a female Giant Ichneumon, the second image we received the same day.  The photo we just finished posting shows the female in the act of using that lengthy ovipositor to place her eggs deep within the wood of a tree infested with wood boring larvae.

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What is this in Michigan? A wasp?
Location: Detroit Metro, Michigan
June 3, 2011 8:30 pm
Ew we found this tonight … it looks like it is injecting our tree!!!
Is it a wasp?!
Signature: Noel

Giant Ichneumon

Hi Noel,
We want to begin by complimenting you on having taken a beautiful photograph of a female Giant Ichneumon (see BugGuide) in the genus Megarhyssa, most likely Megarhyssa macrurus, in the act of ovipositing or depositing her eggs.  While this probably appears to be detrimental to the tree, the larvae of the Giant Ichneumon does not feed on wood.  Rather, they feed upon the larvae of the wood boring Pigeon Horntail.  The Pigeon Horntail does not generally infest healthy trees, so this tree is most likely already in a state of decline.  Both the Pigeon Horntail and the Giant Ichnuemon belong to the same insect order as bees and wasps, Hymenoptera, but neither the Pigeon Horntail nor the Giant Ichneumon is capable of stinging.  They are wasp-like without being true wasps.  This is our second sighting of a Giant Ichneumon reported today.

Update:
June 5, 2011
We just received and posted a new photo of the host insect, the Pigeon Horntail.

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What’s This Bug?
Location: Chicago land
March 4, 2011 12:37 am
I Found this ant like insect on my basement workbench, I thought it was a regular old ant, but I noticed the stinger on it’s back. I’m in the Chicago land area and the outside temperatures got above freezing this day (3-2-11) it’s real small about 1/8 of an inch (I used a 60mm macro lens with a extension tube)
Thanks
Signature: Bill G

Flightless Ichneumon

Hi Bill,
We can only surmise that this is some species of flightless Parasitic Wasp.  We need to rush off and cannot research this at the moment, though we have requested assistance from Eric Eaton.  Moments before posting, we decided to try to locate any Flightless Ichneumons, and BugGuide has numerous images in the genus Gelis.  BugGuide states:  “Many species of Gelis are wingless. Habits are diverse. Many are external parasites of Lepidoptera in cocoons, others are parasitic on Symphyta, spiders, Diptera larvae and pupae, or wood-boring Coleoptera larvae. Many are Hyperparasites.”

Eric Eaton provides confirmation
Daniel:
Wow! Great image of an adult female ichneumon wasp in the genus Gelis:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/41499

May I use this image in one of my blogs I wonder?
Eric

sure he can use it, no problem and thanks for the info, BTW is this bug  a common thing or something that I should be concerned about? since I found another one by my back door.
also great web site you have, it’s now bookmarked
Thanks
Bill Grenchik

Hi Bill,
We are copying Eric Eaton with your response.  There is no need to be concerned regarding the Ichneumon.  We understand that some Ichneumons are capable of stinging, but that is a rare occurrence if they are carelessly handled.

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