Is This A Wingless Wasp ? - Chasmodon

Moved

Moved from Alysiini.

… v belov, 25 March, 2014 - 10:02am

Moved

Dr. C. van Achterberg in the Netherlands says that this is almost certainly Chasmodon, which has been known only from the Western Palearctic. He says the species looks like it could be Chasmodon apterus (Nees), the type-species of the genus. He would need to see a specimen in order to identify the species. Of course, if it is a new species (there are only two in the genus at present, with the second being one Dr. van Achterberg described in 1975), that would be interesting, but it would also be very interesting if there were an immigrant population of apterus in Newfoundland. Taxapad lists eight species of cyclorraphous Diptera as hosts of apterus, but I haven't checked to see if any of those are immigrants in North America.

Moved from Alysiinae.

… Bob Carlson, 4 October, 2013 - 7:03pm

Opomyza germinationis

Taxapad doesn't load, but if the "web of life partners" on ichneumonoidea.name is a host list we have at least Opomyza germinationis, Geomyza tripunctata, and Scaptomyza pallida. The list there is so diverse this must be a nonspecific parasite of any higher Diptera associated with grasses.

… John F. Carr, 25 March, 2014 - 10:09am

TaxaPad

A couple of months ago, the link I had been using for TaxaPad stopped working. I reported the problem to Dicky Yu, and he gave me an alternative URL. He didn't say why the original URL stopped working and seemed to imply that that problem would be fixed. It wasn't, so I have been using the following URL since:

http://www.ichneumonoidea.name/global.php

… Bob Carlson, 25 March, 2014 - 3:30pm

Thank you.

Thank you, Bob, and also to Dr. van Achterberg. I've brought your information to the attention the Biology Department at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. I'm hopeful that they will be looking into this situation further.

… Mardon Erbland, 18 October, 2013 - 5:12pm

Guess

My guess is that it more likely that this is an invasive species than a undescribed North American representative of Chasmodon. I hope that you and the scientists at the university will be able to resolve the issue.

… Bob Carlson, 18 October, 2013 - 7:37pm

Moved

Another instance in which I find the 560 pixel recommendation for the longest side regrettable. I am not sure more pixels (say 900 or more n the longest side would help, but it certainly couldn't hurt. For someone familiar with the taxon, though, it might be unnecessary.

Moved from Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies.

… Bob Carlson, 29 September, 2013 - 7:42pm

the 560 pixel recommendation is obsolete...

...and, more importantly, defies the purpose.
however, a great many people wisely disregard it and post hi-res photos of up to 3000x3000 --which makes all the difference between confident ID and frustrating guesswork

… v belov, 18 October, 2013 - 8:09am

I didn't know...

I didn't know that I could post larger images. I would almost always be able to post something much larger than 560px. I guess that I should start posting bigger images. Sound OK?

… Mardon Erbland, 18 October, 2013 - 5:09pm

560 pixel limitation

I thought I'd provide a link to a 1400 pixel wide version of this same image. The linked version is also cropped larger in order to show the full antennae. At 560 pixels I had to cut off the antennae in order to show more detail in the body. The 1400 pixel image is slightly less than 1/2 the actual resolution of the original photo. (Be sure your browser doesn't automatically resize it to make it smaller.)
http://www.justphotos.ca/post/20130929_EM47699.jpg

… Mardon Erbland, 30 September, 2013 - 7:03am

Excellent

Thanks. It helps to show the mandible a bit better, and its basal width seems to indicate that it has to be Alysiinae. I would hope the detail will permit an ID to species, supposing this critter has been described.

… Bob Carlson, 30 September, 2013 - 12:50pm