Ichneumon Wasp? - Atanycolus

Video

I forgot that I had taken video of the sparring. Unfortunately, it's shaky, but maybe it adds some value, so posting a link here to the video.

… Victor Engel, 6 September, 2018 - 11:03am

Moved

Genus Atanycolus confirmed by Dr. Michael Sharkey.

Moved from Braconid Wasps.

… Bob Carlson, 27 August, 2012 - 5:42pm

Date

The camera data, as viewed with the Opera browser, indicate a date of March 18 rather than 17, so I wonder if the camera date and time were set incorrectly. In any case, I see that the photos were taken over a period of about 2 hours and 13 minutes and that there was about an hour between the 5th photo and the 6th but only 2 minutes between the 6th and the 7th. The 5th appears to show a male and female, but, when I expand the photo, I see a faint shadow where the ovipositor would be, so I am left wondering if the ovipositor was simply out of focus. But the time span between the 5th and the 6th would appear to indicate that the 6th and the 7th represent a different pair of individuals, both female, interacting in a very interesting way--"catfight" in human terminology.

… Bob Carlson, 27 August, 2012 - 5:42pm

Sorry for the late reply. I w

Sorry for the late reply. I will check the EXIF data and post an update. It's possible you are looking at modification dates rather than capture dates from EXIF. Most likely, the images were not processed the same day as they were captured. The camera date/time have been correct as long as I've had the camera (within a couple minutes). However, I do not adjust it for daylight saving time. I'm quite certain all the individuals I saw were females with long ovipositors. What you see as a shadow is actually an out of focus ovipositor.

P.S. You may wish to use http://regex.info/exif.cgi to view the EXIF data details. I just did that to confirm a sample picture here was taken 3-17. That website also shows several fields with dates that may have been reflected in your browser.

… Victor Engel, 14 June, 2013 - 4:59pm

Update

Here are the shot times, all on 3/17/2012 Central Standard Time

16:14:15
16:14:27
16:14:59
16:15:46
16:24:40
16:26:25
16:26:26

It's been over a year, but the way I recall, there were two females sparring for a while until one of them fell off. Then a few minutes later, two females were sparring again. I know for certain I saw three individuals, but I didn't notice if the same two were involved both times. This series was shot over a period of just over 2 minutes. I have other shots over a longer period than that, not included here.

… Victor Engel, 14 June, 2013 - 9:03pm

Thanks

What I was seeing was the file change date and time. Good to know the pics were taken over a fairly narrow span of time.

… Bob Carlson, 14 June, 2013 - 9:20pm

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… Victor Engel, 18 March, 2012 - 11:41am

Braconid - Braconinae…

Features such as the downward sloping ovipositor, wing venation, coloration, and mouthparts suggest the subfamily Braconinae. They typically target beetle and Lep. hosts that are well concealed inside plant tissues and tree bark. Beetles and weevils are often the first to attack dead and dying trees. This is a nice sequence becase it is not often that we see females battling for the right to oviposit into a host.

See reference here.

… Ross Hill, 18 March, 2012 - 11:07am