Ichneumon wasp - unnamed 4

This ichneumon wasp parasitizes a family of smaller wasps (including the Sphecidae) that build their nests in burrows or tree stumps.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Perithous scurra
Family: 
Ichneumon wasps
Family Latin name: 
ICHNEUMONIDAE
Category: 
Insects other

Species description

Species description

The individual photographed here belongs to a species of ichneumon wasps that has five sub-species, each having a marginally different appearance from the others. They parasitize a family of smaller wasps (including the Sphecidae) that build their nests in burrows or tree stumps.

The individual photographed here (a male) was seen - at the beginning of June - with at least seven other males flying around a tree stump. They didn't alight on the stump, but only on the grasses growing around it. We suspect they were waiting for females to emerge from their hosts in the stump.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)
This ichneumon wasp parasitizes a family of smaller wasps (including the Sphecidae) that build their nests in burrows or tree stumps.
The individual ichneumon wasp photographed here (a male) was seen with at least seven other males flying around a tree stump.

Details

Species family information

Ichneumon wasps are a family of 'parasitoids' that usually attack the caterpillars of butterflies and moths (and other insects and spiders). Unlike social wasps, these parasites are solitary. Although they share the characteristic 'wasp waist' with their social wasp cousins, the ichneumons are generally long and thin, having notably long antennae (usually with 16 segments, compared to the 13 or less of other wasps). If you are lucky enough to see these flighty insects, you may notice their antennae moving rapidly from side to side, indicating that they are probably hunting for prey using a 'stereo-smell' function that enables them to locate prey using olfactory information detected by receptor neurons in their antennae.

Category information

Insects evolved in the Ordovician from a crustacean ancestral lineage as terrestrial invertebrates with six legs (the Hexapoda). This was the time when terrestrial plants first appeared. In the Devonian some insects developed wings and flight, the first animals to do so. An early flying group was the Odonata from the Carboniferous, the damselflies and dragonflies, which have densely-veined wings and long, ten-segmented bodies. They are day-flying carnivores, with an aquatic larval stage, so are commonly seen flying near water. The carnivorous larvae are called nymphs. Odonata species are short-lived, damselflies surviving for 2-4 weeks, dragonflies for up to 2 months.

Some insect groups in the Cretaceous co-evolved with the flowering plants, and they have had a close association ever since. These groups are the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the Diptera (flies), and the Coleoptera (beetles). The diversity of beetles is astonishing. Of all the known animal species on the planet, one in five is a beetle!