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Photo#802663
Ichneumon wasps? - Megarhyssa macrurus

Ichneumon wasps? - Megarhyssa macrurus
Baton Rouge, Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, USA
July 10, 2013
Found by Jeff & Carol Newell at the edge of the swamp on trunk of a Hackberry tree.
At first seemed like it might be a male and female (?).
But in second image it can be seen that that both seem to be "drilling/probing" with ovipositors.
So now thinking it must be two females (?).
In third image, some kind of disc shaped membrane (?) is showing as the ovipositor is being used.

Images of this individual: tag all
Ichneumon wasps? - Megarhyssa macrurus Ichneumon wasps? - Megarhyssa macrurus Ichneumon wasps? - Megarhyssa macrurus Ichneumon wasps? - Megarhyssa macrurus

Moved

Moved
Florida specimens of Megahryssa greenei also have this coloration but that color variant is not yet known from Lousiana and is somewhat smaller than macrurus. Having examined a macrurus specimen of similar coloration from southern Louisiana , this would presumably be macrurus.

Moved from ID Request.

Megarhyssa macrurus…
You are right in that the disc is actually a membrane - it is formed as the terminal abdominal segments are rotated during oviposition. During the rotation, the stylus of the ovipositor pushes and extends the membrane completely which then forms this translucent disc.

See reference here.

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