Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Photo#971168
parasitic wasp?

parasitic wasp?
Sitka County, Alaska, USA
July 29, 2014
Size: ~3mm
More than 25 of these were in the container with the presumed egg case. I have not seen anything else emerge, but perhaps these are just quicker than whatever laid the eggs? I'm also curious because it seems like it would be very difficult for one of these wasps to access the eggs to parasitize them, given how dense the case was.

Images of this individual: tag all
Spider egg case? parasitic wasp?

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Microgastrinae…
The wasp larvae sometimes develop in a cocoon "ball" such as this, which may contain multiple cocoons.

See reference here.

 
Thanks!
That's very interesting. I wonder if there's any way to tell what they had parasitized. Also, is there any possibility of further refining of the identification with additional photos? I still have them (though they seem to have all died overnight) and would be happy to try. Regardless, I'll put them in alcohol to be sent to the University collection here in Alaska at some point.

 
ID
It might be a requirement that you would need to know the host at least to family in order to submit your specimens for identification to the USDA's Systematic Entomology Lab in Washington. That had been the policy there for parasitic Hymenoptera when I was working there, but I don't know if it still is. As for getting a generic ID from additional photos, I would say that the chances aren't good because the few times in which I have forwarded BugGuide photos to the authority on Microgastrinae, I have never gotten a response. In general, I have found European and Canadian specialists to be more interested in public outreach than American ones. I think most, if not all, microgastrines parasitize caterpillars of Lepidoptera, but I suppose a species ID would be necessary for narrowing prospective hosts further.