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 Banchinae

Wasp [or Sawfly?] ID Request - Ceratogastra ornata Wasps or flies - male Pimplinae - Exetastes fornicator - female Unknown Ichneumon - Ceratogastra ornata ichneumon wasp - Exetastes suaveolens Thin Slender Wasp - female Lissonota scutellaris male - Lissonota scutellaris - male Unknown wasp - Ceratogastra ornata
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 Banchinae
Numbers
3 tribes, with ~1,500 spp. in >60 genera worldwide; ~600 spp. in 21 genera in our area(1)(2)(3)
Identification
Banchinae are often noted in part for having a non-petionate abdomen and a subapical notch on the ovipositor. Note that this notch may not be visible unless the ovipositor is separated from its sheath. Note as well that a notched ovipositor may occur in other subfamilies, including Ctenopelmatinae, Cylloceriinae, and Orthocentrinae (among many others!), so this trait should never be used on its own.(3)

"Most Banchinae can be readily recognized by the combination of an anteriorly expanded submetapleural carina, evenly curved posterior trans-verse carina of the propodeum (with other carinae reduced) and notched ovipositor." — Broad & Notton (2011)(4)
Range
worldwide(1)
Food
All species with known hosts are koinobiont endoparasitoids of caterpillars(4)
Remarks
Related to the Ophioninae, but mainly active during the day.
Females inject POLYDNAVIRUSES into the host during oviposition. Virus compromise the host immune system, protecting the parasitoid. [more]