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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » "Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps » Braconid and Ichneumonid Wasps (Ichneumonoidea) » Braconid Wasps (Braconidae) » Caterpillar Mummy Wasps (Rogadinae) » Common Mummy Wasps (Aleiodes) » circumscriptus/gastritor species-group (Aleiodes circumscriptus/gastritor species-group) » Tent Caterpillar Mummy Wasp (Aleiodes malacosomatos)
Photo#1360718
braconid - Aleiodes malacosomatos - male
Copyright © 2017 Steve Scholnick

braconid - Aleiodes malacosomatos - Male
North Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland, USA
April 12, 2017
Size: ~5mm
Appears to be Aleiodes based on the Shaw key to Rogadinae (1) but I can’t see all of the features described in the couplets and would appreciate confirmation/correction of the ID. Thanks in advance

Images of this individual: tag all
braconid - Aleiodes malacosomatos - male braconid - Aleiodes malacosomatos - male braconid - Aleiodes malacosomatos - male braconid - Aleiodes malacosomatos - male braconid - Aleiodes malacosomatos - male braconid - Aleiodes malacosomatos - male braconid - Aleiodes malacosomatos - male
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Contributed by Steve Scholnick on 24 April, 2017 - 11:00pm
Last updated 17 May, 2017 - 11:01am

Moved
Moved from Mummy-wasps.
… Joe, 17 May, 2017 - 11:01am login or register to post comments

Possibly Aleiodes malacosomatos...
...but would have to count antennal segments to be sure. The early season of capture argues for A. malacosomatos. Generally the stigma is bicolored, mostly dark with lighter yellow at basal and apical edges; in this specimen it is entirely black. It is not unusual for male Aleiodes to have darker coloration than females, and there may be considerable color variability across individuals of some species.
… Joe, 16 May, 2017 - 11:52pm login or register to post comments

 
Thanks for looking
I just added another crop of the last image, this time including the whole antenna.
… Steve Scholnick, 17 May, 2017 - 12:48am login or register to post comments

 
Antennal segment count confirms A. malacosomatos Mason
Aleiodes malacosomatos Mason
Det. J. Fortier 2017
… Joe, 17 May, 2017 - 1:19pm login or register to post comments

 
You did a great job...
... photographing this specimen so that it could be ID'd to species. Appreciated.
… Joe, 17 May, 2017 - 3:15pm login or register to post comments

 
thanks
for the ID and the compliment! Quite a surprise for an insect I found between the inner and outer doors of the building I work in.
The wasp was confined in a spectrophotometer cuvette so I could take my time photographing it. Of the 23 images of that wasp that I saved, that was the only one showing the full antenna in focus.
… Steve Scholnick, 17 May, 2017 - 5:01pm login or register to post comments

 
It is interesting...
...the way very interesting bugs can show up in surprising and obvious ways. A few years ago I found an Aleiodes species (A. medicinebowensis) in N.E. WA. state previously only known from S.E. Wyoming. It had landed on an outside window sill while I happened to be watching.
… Joe, 17 May, 2017 - 11:11pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… Aaron Hunt, 25 April, 2017 - 2:04am login or register to post comments

Agree - Aleiodes (male)…
See reference here.
… Ross Hill, 24 April, 2017 - 11:37pm login or register to post comments

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