Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Photo#73601
Digger Wasp?? - Opheltes glaucopterus

Digger Wasp?? - Opheltes glaucopterus
Tustin, Lake County, Michigan, USA
August 26, 2006
We live in sandy, dry upland area. (I may have submitted this request twice. Sorry.)

Moved

Moved
Moved from Ichneumon Wasps.

Opheltes glaucopterus barberi
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ichneumonid
This is a parasitic wasp in the family Ichneumonidae.

 
Ichneumon wasp (was "Digger Wasp")
Thanks very much for the info. I suspected Ichneumon wasp, but thought they dug holes for the eggs. I now know that they plant eggs on live caterpillars - including tent caterpillars and fall webworms which we have in abundance. Stoke's "Guide to Observing Insect Lives" has a good section (for the layman) on Ichneumons. He refers to an orange-brown one that is attracted to light and sometimes enters homes - ours was in our bedroom. He say it is of the ophion genus. Does this sound right? My Audubon guide shows a 'Short-tailed Ichneumon" (Ophion spp.) which comes pretty close to my specimen but not exactly. Can I safely say it is of the ophion genus? I should probably end my search at genus, as species seems to be too much to ask.

 
can be moved to Ophioninae page
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