Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
BugGuide Gathering
Pack Forest
Washington State
July 10-12, 2009
Details...

Photos from the 2008 gathering in Tennessee
 
Photos from the 2007 gathering in Minnesota

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Superfamily Ichneumonoidea - Braconids and Ichneumons

Small red wasp? Ichneumon Wasp - Pimpla Ichneumon Wasp Wasp - female Wasp Strange bug - Megarhyssa macrurus Braconid - Sigalphinae - female Dragonfly Relative? - Megarhyssa macrurus
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (parasitic Apocrita)
Superfamily Ichneumonoidea (Braconids and Ichneumons)
Identification
Pronotum in profile more or less triangular, and extending to tegula or nearly so. Antennae threadlike, usually with 16 or more segments.. Hind trochanters 2-segmented. Ovipositor rises in front of apex of abdomen, not capable of being withdrawn, often long sometimes longer than body. Venation usually normal. FW without a costal cell (except in Stephanidae).
A useful key to the subfamilies of Ichneumonidae by Gavin Broad (Dept. of Entomology, Nat. Hist. Museum, London, UK) can be downloaded as PDF. Written for the UK, this key may not cover all of the subfamilies recorded for North America, but is a great tool for clarifying some issues, especially concerning the Ophioninae.
Remarks
A very large and important group. Parasites of other insects or invertebrates. Wasplike in appearance, but (with rare exceptions) do not sting.
Print References
(1) page 652.
(2)
Internet References
Ichneumonoidea In Catalan, with excellent photos
Works Cited
1.Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects
By Norman F. Johnson, Charles A. Triplehorn
2.Peterson First Guide to Insects of North America
By Richard E. White, Christopher Leahy, Roger Tory Peterson