Subject: Unidentified wasp?
Location: Fannie, Ark.
August 25, 2014 8:57 am
Found and photographed a couple of days ago in Montgomery County, Arkansas. I think its a wasp but would like to know what kind. Thank you.
Signature: Bill Burton
Ichneumon
Dear Bill,
We believe this is a Parasitic Wasp in the family Ichneumonidae, a large and diverse family. According to BugGuide: “About 5,000 described species in North America, possibly 3,000 more undescribed(2); arguably, the largest animal family, with the estimated 60,000 species worldwide (up to 100,000, according to some estimates.” It looks very similar to this image of Saranaca elegans posted to BugGuide. According to BugGuide, the larval food is the caterpillar of “Darapsa myron”, the Virginia Creeper Sphinx, and according to the Sphingidae of the Americas, the Virginia Creeper Sphinx is found in Arkansas. We may be way off base with the species, but we are confident that we have at least gotten the family identification correct.
Ichneumon
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