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Family Gasteruptiidae - Carrot Wasps

Wasp - Gasteruption - male Long, tall Sally - quite elegant. Megi*schus? Nope. - Gasteruption - female Ichneumon - Gasteruption - female Beautiful wasp - Gasteruption - male unident - wasp? - Gasteruption - male - female Gasteruption - female Gasteruption - female Wasp ID Request - Gasteruption - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (parasitic Apocrita)
Superfamily Evanioidea (Aulacids, Ensigns, and Gasteruptiids)
Family Gasteruptiidae (Carrot Wasps)
Numbers
Arnett, p. 572, lists 15 species, in one genus, Gasteruption. (1)
Size
13-40 mm
Identification
Abdomen slender, very long, and attached to thorax on upper (dorsal) side. Hind tibia expanded. Ovipositor very long. Head is set on a "neck", differentiating from ichneumons.
Range
Most species in northern United States and in Canada.
Food
Adults take nectar.
Life Cycle
Larvae are predators or predators-inquilines (consume larval food, not the larvae) of other Hymenoptera that nest in twigs and in wood. Third instar larvae spin cocoons and overwinter, pupate in spring.
See Also
Ichneumonidae
Print References
Arnett, American Insects, p. 572 (1)
Bland, How to Know the Insects, pp. 377-378, fig. 360B (2)
Borror and White, A Field Guide to the Insects, pp. 334-335 (3)
Gordh, p. 386 (4)
Works Cited
1.American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico
By Ross H. Arnett
2.How to Know the Insects
By Roger G. Bland, H.E. Jaques
3.A Field Guide to Insects
By Richard E. White, Donald J. Borror, Roger Tory Peterson
4.A Dictionary of Entomology
By George Gordh, David H. Headrick