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Family Gasteruptiidae - Carrot Wasps

Gasteruptiid wasp - Gasteruption - female Gasterupiid - Gasteruption - female Ichneumon? - Gasteruption Wasp - Gasteruption Ichneumon Wasp maybe in  Anomaloninae ? - Gasteruption - female Gasteruption species? - Gasteruption wasp w fat legs & long ovipositor - Gasteruption - female Gasteruption - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon ("Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps)
Superfamily Evanioidea (Aulacid, Ensign, and Gasteruptiid Wasps)
Family Gasteruptiidae (Carrot Wasps)
Numbers
15 spp. in a single genus in our area,(1)(2)(3) 1500-2000 spp. worldwide (Jennings & Austin 2002), of which ~500 are described (Jennings & Deans, 2004)
Size
13-40 mm
Identification
Abdomen slender, very long, and attached to thorax on upper (dorsal) side. Hind tibia expanded. Ovipositor very long in 12 spp. but short in 3 spp. The head is set on a "neck", differentiating them from other large parasitoids wasps, like the ichneumonids.(4)(2)(3)

Keys by Townes (1950) for all 15 species (treated under Gasteruption and Rhydinofoenus)(2) and Smith (1996) for the 5 eastern species.(3)


Wing venation
Range
In our area, more diverse in the north
Food
Larvae are predators or predators-inquilines (consume larval food, not the larvae) of other Hymenoptera that nest in twigs and in wood (Jennings & Deans, 2004)
Adults feed at flowers, especially on Apiaceae(2)
Life Cycle
Third instar larvae spin cocoons and overwinter, pupate in spring
Works Cited
1.Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico
Karl V. Krombein, Paul D. Hurd, Jr., David R. Smith, and B. D. Burks. 1979. Smithsonian Institution Press.
2.The Nearctic species of Gasteruptionidae (Hymenoptera)
Townes H. 1950. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 100(3259): 85-145.
3.Review of the Gasteruptiidae (Hymenoptera) of Eastern North America
David R. Smith. 1996. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 98:491-499.
4.A Field Guide to Insects
Richard E. White, Donald J. Borror, Roger Tory Peterson. 1998. Houghton Mifflin Co.