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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 » Tromatobia genus-group » Tromatobia » Tromatobia rufopectus
Photo#718129
Ichneumon Wasp - Tromatobia rufopectus
Copyright © 2012 Peter Homann

Ichneumon Wasp - Tromatobia rufopectus
Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida, USA
October 26, 2012
Size: 10 mm body
A saturnid cocoon surprised me on 21 October with a swarm of these wasps that refused to pose for a picture. Most escaped, and this one is a sluggish last survivor. Should be frassed after some information regarding ID is provided. Thank you.
Edit: I was wrong - it was not a saturnid cocoon - see below!

Images of this individual: tag all
Ichneumon Wasp - Tromatobia rufopectus Ichneumon Wasp - Argiope aurantia
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Contributed by Peter Homann on 27 October, 2012 - 2:01pm
Last updated 27 October, 2012 - 4:56pm

Moved
Moved from Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies.
… Bob Carlson, 27 October, 2012 - 3:53pm login or register to post comments

 
Thank you for taking this all
Thank you for taking this all the way to a final ID.
… Peter Homann, 27 October, 2012 - 5:07pm login or register to post comments

Looks like the egg sac of
Argiope aurantia
… john and jane balaban, 27 October, 2012 - 3:09pm login or register to post comments

 
Revelation!
Oh, so much makes sense now. You may remember my post of a male Anisota virginiensis taken from the web of a Garden Spider Aurantia argiope. Later I took a picture of a spider with two males in its web. No wonder I found four egg sacs close to the outside wall of our home. Two of them released these wasps. Thank you for enlightening me.
… Peter Homann, 27 October, 2012 - 3:47pm login or register to post comments

 
Aha!
Taxapad lists Tromatobia rufopectus as the only ichneumonid parasitoid of A. aurantia.
… Bob Carlson, 27 October, 2012 - 3:17pm login or register to post comments

Cocoon
Are you sure it was a saturniid cocoon, and, if so, do you have a guess concerning the identity of the saturniid? This looks like a species of Ephialtini, but I am failing to recall any that would parasitize cocoons of saturniids, but I am searching.
… Bob Carlson, 27 October, 2012 - 2:19pm login or register to post comments

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