Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Ichneumon Wasp

This Ichneumon wasp landed on the tripod holding up my blacklight during my mothing session last night. I think this individual is in the genus Ophion. Ichneumon wasps are parasitic on other insects. That is, a female finds a suitable host insect and lays an egg directly on the insect. When the eggs hatch, the larva devour the host, and the adult wasp emerges from the host's chrysalis. Wasps of genus Ophion generally parasitize large caterpillars, but at least one species lays its eggs on May beetle grubs.