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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) » Ichneumonid Wasps (Ichneumonidae) » Pimplinae » Ephialtini » Polysphincta Genus Group
Photo#407080
Parasitic wasp in Trypoxylon nest
Copyright © 2010 Beatriz Moisset

Parasitic wasp in Trypoxylon nest
Willow Grove, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA
Size: ~ 2 mm
One of the Trypoxylon larva didn't make it; its cell was full of about 10 spiders and a loosely woven cocoon and finally this tiny wasp which I didn't notice at first. It was completely covered by mud and it took fine work to give it a face-lift using my most delicate artist brush and a little moisture.
Found on 6/6/2010 but it must have been dead for some time.
The cocoon is visible in the lower left corner of the first thumbnail. The legitimate occupant and its story are under the second thumbnail

Images of this individual: tag all
Parasitic wasp in Trypoxylon nest Parasitic wasp in Trypoxylon nest
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Contributed by Beatriz Moisset on 7 June, 2010 - 12:30pm
Last updated 4 January, 2019 - 4:56pm

Moved
Moved from Ichneumon Wasps.
… Bob Carlson, 15 June, 2010 - 9:12am login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies.
… Bob Carlson, 9 June, 2010 - 2:17pm login or register to post comments

Ich
The wasp is surely an ichneumonid, but it doesn't appear to be any of the kinds of ichneumonids that would parasitize either Trypoxylon or spiders, given the apparent robustness of the petiole. The petiole looks like it could be that of a species of Tryphoninae, and most of those parasitize larval sawflies. I wonder whether a Trypoxylon would provision with both spiders and sawfly larvae.
… Bob Carlson, 7 June, 2010 - 2:07pm login or register to post comments

 
Hmm. . .
Then perhaps there is a simpler explanation; I was raising sawflies recently. This wasp may have come from those larvae and ended up on my work table, very near the contents of the Trypoxylon nest just by chance. I'd better unlink these images, then.
I am still very curious about the little cocoon; that one was really mixed with the dead spiders, so I am sure that it came from the same cell. Probably it has nothing to do with the Ich, anyway.
Would other shots of this wasp help IDying it? I still have it.
Thanks, Bob.
… Beatriz Moisset, 7 June, 2010 - 5:43pm login or register to post comments

 
-
I believe that ichneumonids that parasitize sawfly larvae emerge from the sawfly cocoon, so if you didn't have any sawfly cocoons, that wouldn't seem to be an option. As for the loosely woven cocoon, there are some ichneumonids that parasitize spiders that have them. Inside the cocoon, there would be an exuvium of the final larval instar of the critter that spun the cocoon, and the exuvium could be soaked in weak KOH to soften it and allow it to be mounted on a slide so that the head capsule could be examined to determine whether or not it is the cocoon of a spider parasitoid.
… Bob Carlson, 7 June, 2010 - 7:17pm login or register to post comments

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