Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Photo#2135126
Ichneumonid Wasp

Ichneumonid Wasp
Buncombe County, North Carolina, USA
June 25, 2022
One of several wasps, presumably all males, gathered around the same hole in a dying tree. (During prior weeks, females of two species, Megarhyssa macrurus and Megarhyssa greenei, had been inserting eggs in the same tree.) This wasp is much smaller than the others. See 2nd photo for size comparison.

Images of this individual: tag all
Ichneumonid Wasp Ichneumonid Wasps (three individuals, for comparison) Ichneumonid Wasps (two individuals, for comparison)

Moved
Moved from Ichneumonid Wasps.

I would think this to be just a smaller M. greenei were it not for the yellow spotting to the metasoma. There is, though, a form of M. greenei found in North Carolina where the females have such yellow spots rather than the typical stripes. Both sexes are fairly variable in size. That species would make sense to be waiting for a female along with a more typical M. greenei.

There might be a very low probability of being one of the southeastern species not yet in the guide, which I haven't seen a specimen of, but it's only been reported in Florida. I think it's unlikely to be found two states away from its only records as it's likely a Floridian endemic.