Introduced Parasitoid Wasp from New Zealand

Ichneumon?
Hi Bugman,
I found this on my spinach plant the other day, in my garden in Wellington, New Zealand. It was pretty small, just an inch or so long. After checking out your site would we be right in thinking it’s a type of Ichneumon? The ovipositor looks very short compared the similar photos on your website though. Thanks,
Belinda

Hi Belinda,
Your wasp is definitely an Ichneumon, one of a very large group of wasps that parasitize other insects. It looks exactly like the Banded Caterpillar Parasite Wasp, Ichneumon promissorius, that we located on the Geocities website.

Update:  November 11, 2012
We just approved a comment that identifies this as Glabridorsum stokesii, which according to the hortnet website:  “was introduced to New Zealand from Australia in the 1960s and 70s programme of biological control of lightbrown apple moth. This ichneumonid is now established throughout the North Island and the north of the South Island. The adult female lays an egg on the surface of the leafroller pupa and the wasp larva feeds externally before becoming an internal parasite. In addition to parasitising leafrollers, this wasp is an important natural enemy of Oriental fruit moth and occasionally attacks codling moth pupae.”  We also found this very detailed report from the Department of Zoology of the University of Wellington.