Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Photo#478864
Wasp? - Apechthis ontario - female

Wasp? - Apechthis ontario - Female
Big Basin HQ area, Santa Cruz County, California, USA
November 28, 2010

Images of this individual: tag all
Wasp? - Apechthis ontario - female Wasp? - Apechthis ontario - female Wasp? - Apechthis ontario - female Wasp? - Apechthis ontario - female Wasp? - Apechthis ontario - female Wasp? - Apechthis ontario - female Wasp? - Apechthis ontario - female Wasp? - Apechthis ontario - female

Moved
Moved from Apechthis.

 
thanks again!
Might you suggest which photos in this mass should be frassed, if any of them are not needed for the guide?

I know this one ID took up a lot of time, I really appreciate it.

Scott

 
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I'd say that 478865, 478869, & 479190 could be frassed.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

 
Thank
you very much for the ID.
I looked in the data section which only showed one other instance, from Massachusetts, and note that the name has Ontario in it, but I don't see any other information on the site about this wasp.
Am I missing where to look for written data, or does that have to be done with off site books?
Scott

 
Data
I just added a brief statement about the hosts on the Info page for Pimplini. I don't know if anyone has speculated on the function of the curved tip of the ovipositor of Apechthis, but there are other photos on the web that show this trait, from England and Commanster, Belgium.

 
hot links OK
Thanks for the links.

I looked at the map for Apechthis and found one (Apechthis ontario) in Massachusetts and one in Montana that looked pretty much the same, except I have blue rings on the abdomen? where the ovipositor comes out, at the sections that move, and I have a very distinct extra bump on the body section behind the head, that is the same size as one of the individual three bumps on the head and the third difference is that the wings are held differently, though seem to have the same markings.

I have 66 photos total (took a while to get lighting correct) and can produce a crop as good as the head crops of any part except the underside.

I am stumbling hard on the Latin and body part names, I barely have a grasp on Botanical Latin for plants.

Am I correct that this would paratacize a fly larva? I had a weird one racing around on the top another redwood post about 20 feet from there, I posted the photos around thanksgiving.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/474945

 
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Your species would not parasitize a fly larva--only pupae of moths or butterflies. But larvae of some flies, particularly Tachinidae, might parasitize the same kinds of hosts that Apechthis species do.

Your photos might be of Apechthis ontario. When I expand image 478866 so as to more closely examine the profile of the petiole, I don't see a pyramidal elevation dorsally near the midpoint but, rather, it appears that the curvature of the dorsal surface of the petiole is rather evenly convex from base to apex. The other character that distinguishes ontario from the several other species of the genus known from California is the absence of a tooth at the base of the hnd tarsal claws. That wouldn't likely be discernible in any of your photos.

 
more photos
I have some sort of unidentified moth caterpillar, well 2, that have been known in this area.
I don't understand all of the terminology about petiole and such, but waht I do understand, I'll look for photos that would cover it, like the missing claw. I whittled it down to 6 photos, from 12-15 that were pretty good, as the 6 covered wht I thought was all of the aspects, and then I had to reduce file size to about 10% of the original to be able to send it to the guide, the originals are nearly what you see of the whole wasp, and at 7-8 MB.

 
Petiole
The petiole is illustrated here (see the figure titled First and Second Metasomal Segments). In most Hymenoptera, the first abdominal segment is fused with the thorax as a structure called the propodeum. For Hymenoptera with a propodeum there has been a somewhat recent preference to use the term metasoma for that portion of the abdomen posterior to the propodeum. The petiole is the first metasomal segment and attaches the metasoma to the propodeum. In some Ichneumonidae it is more elongate and petiole-like than it is in Pimplinae like Apechthis.

 
I'm not
sure I understand the petiole yet, though I'm assuming it is the small connecting part.

I've one photo of that, not sure how many I'll submit of that rear claw. They are all straight crops, no file size reduction, with some sharpening and contrast.

 
Claw
I don't see a basal tooth on the claw, so the species is surely Apechthis ontario. As for the petiole, see the photo of Apechthis compunctor in the England link above; you can vaguely see that the petiole has a rather sharp angulation post medially rather than being smoothly rounded dorsally as in Apechthis ontario. Figure 298b in Townes' 1960 revision of the subfamily is an illustration of compunctor which shows this nicely, but I don't know of any such illustration that is available on the Internet.

Ichneumon (female)
There are some similar specimens in Pimplinae:



But don't hold me to the subfamily. Wait to hear from Dr. Carlson to be sure.