Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Subfamily Ichneumoninae

Phaeogenes nigridens - female Orange Wasp - Trogus pennator black and white ichneumon? - Cratichneumon unifasciatorius Wasp - Coelichneumon Platylabus berndi - male Amblyteles Cratichneumon tyloidifer? Wasp
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 Ichneumonoidea (Braconid and Ichneumonid Wasps)
Family Ichneumonidae (Ichneumonid Wasps)
Subfamily Ichneumoninae
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Heresiarchini, Ichneumonini, Protichneumonini
Numbers
Second largest ichneumonid subfamily, with ~700 spp. in 90 genera of 8 tribes in our area and ~400 genera in 16 tribes worldwide.(1)(2) Tribes revised by Santos et al. (2021).(3)
Size
2.2 - 21.0 mm(4)
Identification
Colorful appearance, dorsoventrally depressed abdomen (flattened from top to bottom, wider than high), long propodeum, pentagonal areolet (small cell in the centre of the fore wing; second submarginal cell), short ovipositor, and large body size. Truncate clypeus exposing the labium. The sexes of the same species are frequently quite different.

Keys to tribes following the Santos et al. (2021) revision provided by Claridge.(5)
Range
worldwide(1)
Food
Adults feed on honey dew of aphids and on certain plant foliage.
Life Cycle
All individuals of this subfamily are internal parasites of the order Lepidoptera. Although females lay one egg into either larvae or pupae, the offspring always emerge from the pupa. Ichneumoninae are endoparasitic idiobionts. An idiobiont has a wide range of hosts and it eats, kills, or paralyzes the host immediately after oviposition therefore resulting in no continuation of development. An endoparasite feeds internally on its host whereas an ectoparasite feeds externally. Female Ichneumoninae look for hosts on the ground and have short ovipositors, possibly as a result of their host usually being a naked larvae. Typically, adult females hibernate and search for hosts in the spring.(7)
Remarks
Adults dislike intense heat and sunlight and not usually found during the middle of the day.
Print References
Heinrich, G.H. 1977. Ichneumoninae of Florida and neighboring states. Arthropods of Florida and Neighboring Areas. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Contribution 400, 19: 1–350.(8)
Internet References
Brandon Claridge's Ichneumonids of North America - keys to tribes and genera with specimen galleries(5)
Works Cited
1.Classification and Systematics of the Ichneumonidae
2.Carlson R.W. () Ichneumonidae catalog
3.Phylogenomics of Ichneumoninae reveals pervasive morphological convergence and the shortcomings of previous classifications
Bernardo F. Santos, David B. Wahl, Pascal Rousse, Andrew M. R. Bennett, Robert Kula, & Seán G. Brady. 2021. Systematic Entomology 46(3): 704-724.
4.Hymenoptera of the world: an identification guide to families
Goulet H., Huber J., eds. 1993. Agriculture Canada Publication 1894/E. 668 pp.
5.Ichneumonids of North America
6.Illustrated key to the tribes of subfamilia Ichneumoninae and genera of the tribe Platylabini of world fauna (Hymenoptera, Ichne
Tereshkin, A.M. 2009. Linzer biologische Beltrage 41(2): 1317-1608.
7.Hibernating Ichneumonidae of Ohio
Clement E. Dasch. 1971. Ohio J. Sci. 71: 270–283.
8.Ichneumoninae of Florida and Neighboring States (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae, subfamily Ichneumoninae)
Heinrich, G.H. 1977. Arthropods of Florida and Neighboring Land Areas, Volume 9.