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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » "Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps » Stephanoidea » Crown Wasps (Stephanidae) » Megischus » Bicolored Crown Wasp (Megischus bicolor)
Photo#83605
Neuropteran? - Megischus bicolor - male
Copyright © 2006 norman and cheryl lavers

Neuropteran? - Megischus bicolor - Male
Jonesboro, Craighead County, Arkansas, USA
June 24, 2005
Size: 10-15 mm
I just found this picture I took last year. I don't really remember the size except it was so tiny I couldn't see it at all until I took the picture of it and blew it up. At the time I thought it was wingless, and I couldn't even guess what order to put it in. Now I see very frail, possibly functionless, gossamer wings lying on the back. The eyes are double, like a Ululodes owlfly, and I guess it is some sort of Neuropteran, but I am not even sure of that. Can anyone help?
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Contributed by norman and cheryl lavers on 17 October, 2006 - 9:56am
Last updated 6 June, 2008 - 9:38pm

Male
This appears to be a male. I do not see an ovipositor, and the long, abdomen, club-like at the end, tapered in towards the thorax, matches that of the photo of a male in Taber (1).
Good point about the wings being small. I wonder if the males can fly? The one female I've seen was a rapid flyer.
… Cotinis, 6 December, 2006 - 9:53am login or register to post comments

Megischus bicolor (Westwood)
Stephanidae

Hymenoptera

a 10-15 mm insect is not tiny
… John S. Ascher, 17 October, 2006 - 11:49am login or register to post comments

 
Dr Ascher,
do all the images filed in BugGuide under Stephanidae here belong to this species? There was some mention that we might have only one species of Stephanidae.
… john and jane balaban, 17 October, 2006 - 6:21pm login or register to post comments

 
according to the 1979 catalog
only two stephanid species are found in eastern North America (east of Oklahoma and Texas:

- Megischus brunneus from southern Florida

- Megischus bicolor from New England south to S Florida.

Thus, most of the photos likely pertain to M. bicolor.

However, I have not consulted the most recent work on Stephanidae.

This catalog should be useful:

http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2004f/z00753f.pdf

The revision includes new species from the western USA. See:

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=14713054
… John S. Ascher, 28 October, 2006 - 8:03pm login or register to post comments

 
Thank you
Presumably a male, with the lack of ovipositor and, perhaps, the double eyes, if that's what they are. Fair play to me: If I had had the mile long ovipositor for a clue I might at least have got the right order, and, in relation to other wasps, would certainly never have considered it tiny!
… norman and cheryl lavers, 17 October, 2006 - 1:18pm login or register to post comments

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