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Family ICHNEUMONIDAE - Ichneumon Wasps
- Members in this family
have long and thin body, with narrow waist like wasps. Adults are active in day
time and feed on flowers. Some species are colourful. Adults are minute to
very large in size.
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 - One way to distinguish then from Braconid Wasps is that the Ichneumon Wasps 2nd recurrent vein of the fore wing
is present.
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- Their larvae are either parasitic
or hyperparasitic (living parasitically upon a parasite). Most caterpillars
and pupas are targeted host. Some species attacked other
insects and spiders. The female wasp usually locates the food plants of the host
then searches with her antennae for a suitable host. The female
usually has the long ovipositor which is used to insert eggs into the host body.
Some species the ovipositor is longer than the female's body. The length of the
ovipositor allows the female to inject her eggs into hidden hosts such as
leaf-rolling or stem-boring caterpillars
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Some species lay eggs externally and attack the host from outside. The host will
usually survive when the larvae is still living. Until the larvae fully grown,
the larvae either pupates inside the dead host or form a cocoon outside.
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- The two families Braconidae and Ichneumonidae
are very close related and some species look similar. They can be distinguished
by the forewing venation. In the Ichneumons there is an extra vein
creating a cell which can not be found on Braconids.
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Subfamily Pimplinae
- Ichneumon Wasps in Pimplinae are usually coloured with red, yellow or
black colours. They are from small to very large in size. Pimplines
attack a wide range of insect larvae and pupae, and some attacks spider egg
sacs. Prior to laying eggs, the female wasps often paralyse or kill their host
by injecting venom with the ovipositor.
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- Yellow-banded Ichneumon Wasp I
  - Lissopimpla sp., male and female, body length 22mm
- This is quite a large Ichneumon wasp. We found the male and female flying
on vegetations in someone's front yard during a sunny day in mid winter. They
both have the typical wasp colour pattern and with very long antenna. Notice
the female have the long and strong ovipositor at the tip of her abdomen. More information please also visit this page.
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- Yellow-banded Ichneumon Wasp II
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- Lissopimpla sp., male and female, body length 15mm
- Found this small Ichneumon Wasp hiding under grass during a raining day.
Pictures were taken on Apr 2011 near the White Rock in Ipswich.
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- Orchid Dupe Wasp
 - Lissopimpla excelsa, body length 20mm
- Pictures were taken in Daisy Hills near Buhot Creek on Apr 2008. Please
check this page for more information.
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- Case Moth Larvae Parasite Wasp
  - Sericopimpla sp. body length 20mm
- In early spring we found this Ichneumon Wasp attacking a case moth
caterpillar on a Acacia tree. Although the caterpillar was protected by its
case bag, it seemed it was useless to prevent the attack from the wasp. We saw
the caterpillar head come out a few times try to get rid of the wasp but no use
either. The wasp kept on punching her long ovipositor into the case bag for
over half an hour. Please also visit this page
for more information.
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Subfamily Tryphoninae
- Ichneumon Wasps in Tryphoninae are from small to large in size. Females
are with ovipositor relatively short, not projecting beyond apex of abdomen.
Their young are external parasites of sawfly
larvae and moth caterpillars.
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- Orange Caterpillar Parasite Wasp
  - Netelia producta, body length 20mm
- Pictures taken when the wasp resting on a Banksia tree leaf in Alexandra Hill
during late summer. The wasp is Reddish orange in colour, female will give a
painful sting. Their hosts are those large size caterpillars. More information
and pictures can be found in this page.
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- Black-tailed Orange Ichneumon Wasps
 - ? sp., body length 20mm
- We saw this Ichneumon Wasp once in Karawatha Forest. We believed the wasp is
in this Tryphoninae subfamily.
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Subfamily Phygadeuontinae
- Phygadeuontinae is the largest subfamily in Ichneumon Wasps. Most wasps are small and a few are
medium size. Most species look very similar as many of them are black in colour with white markings. Antenna are
often with white band and the ovipositor is relatively long. Their young are
external parasites of pupae of moths
and other insects, some are parasites of spider egg-sac. Males are usually
found searching, either walking or dance-flying over low bushes. Females are
found searching for hosts on ground or on plants.
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- Banded Pupa Parasite Wasp 1
  - Gotra sp., male, female, body length 15mm
- The wasp has white band on the antenna. Its body is black with white dots on
thorax and white-banded abdomen. The legs are orange-brown in colours. Please
check this page for more
information.
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- Banded Pupa Parasite Wasp 2
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- ? sp. body length 20mm
- This wasp look almost the same as the Banded Pupa parasite Wasp 1 above
but with longer legs and ovipositor. Please visit this page for more
information and pictures.
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- Banded Pupa Parasite Wasp 3
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- ? sp. body length 20mm
- Most wasps in Phygadeuontinae look very similar as many of them are black in colour with white markings. Antenna are
often with white band. Photos were taken in Wishart bushland near Bulimba
Creek on Aug 2009.
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- Black and White Pupa Parasite Wasp
  - ? Gotra sp., female and male, body length 15mm
- We often find them
in our backyard, land on the leaves and search for prey to parasite. They
target at large cocoons of moths. They lay eggs in the prey body where
their larvae live and grow inside. We usually find a pair of female and male
searching on the same plant. The about pictures show a female with long
ovipositor and a male without it. Click on here
for more information and pictures.
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- Black Ichneumon Wasp
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- ? sp., female, body length 15mm
- This wasp is black with reddish-brown legs. From it
white-banded antenna, we believed it is in the Phygadeuontinae subfamily but
cannot tell the species name. Please check this page
for more information.
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- Brown Ichneumon Wasp
 - ? sp., female, body length 20mm
- From it white-banded antenna, we believed it is in the Phygadeuontinae
subfamily but cannot tell the species name. Please check this page
for more infromation.
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- Orange Pupa Parasite Wasp
 - ? sp. body length 15mm
- Pictures were taken on Jan 2009 in Carbrook Wetland. From it
white-banded antenna, we believed it is in this Phygadeuontinae subfamily. The
wasp has the orange colour body and black head.
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Subfamily Inchneumoninae
- Orange Pupa Parasite Wasp
  - ? sp., body length 15mm
- We found this Ichneumon Wasp laying eggs into a moth pupa. Please click on here for the whole story.
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Subfamily Ophioninae
 - Enicospilus sp., body length 20mm
- Photo was taken in Botanic Garden on Feb 2010. The wasp was resting under
leaf, The larvae in this subfamily are internal parasitic on larvae of moths and butterflies. Adults
are active at night.
- Reference:
- 1. Northern
Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
- 2. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 945.
- 3. An introduction to the Ichneumonidae of Australia - Gauld, I.D. 1984,
British Museum, p286.
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Subfamily Anomaloninae
- Anomalonine wasps are from small to very large in size. They are usually
with black and red colours. Females are with ovipositor relatively short. They
are parasites of tenebrionid
beetle larvae or external parasites of moth
caterpillars.
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- Two-toned Caterpillar Parasite Wasp
  - Heteropelma scaposum, body length 20mm
- This wasp was get caught by a spider web (first picture). Some other wasps of the same
species were wandering near by (second picture). We believe they were searching for caterpillars
as the parasite host for their young. This wasp is common in Brisbane garden. They are often found
flying around low bushes about one meter above ground. More information and
pictures can be find here.
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Subfamily Diplazontinae
- Hover Fly Larvae Parasite Wasp
  - Diplazon laetatorius, subfamily Diplazontinae, body length 10mm
- The Hover Fly Larvae Parasite Wasp is in family ICHNEUMONIDAE and also called Ichneumon
Wasp.
The wasp is shiny black in colour with brown legs and brown abdomen. There is
the white segment on their hind legs. This species is endoparasites of Hover
Fly larvae. More pictures and information can be found in this page.
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- White-tailed Orange Ichneumon Wasps
  - ? sp., body length 15mm
- 1. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 945, D.
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- Reference and Link:
- 1. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 943.
- 2. An introduction to the Ichneumonidae of Australia - Gauld, I.D. 1984,
British Museum.
- 3. Parasitoids: Natural enemies of helicoverpa
- Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Queensland, 2005.
- 4. Northern
Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
- 5. Wasps - family Ichneumonidae - lifeunseen.com, by Nick Monaghan.
- 6. What
wasp is that? - An interactive identification guide to the
Australasian families of Hymenoptera, 2007.
[ Up ] [ MEGALYRIDAE ] [ EVANIIDAE ] [ GASTERUPTIIDAE ] [ ICHNEUMONIDAE ] [ BRACONIDAE ] [ CHALCIDIDAE ] [ TORYMIDAE ] [ PTEROMALIDAE ] [ EUPELMIDAE ] [ CHRYSIDIDAE ] [ Other Parasitic Wasp ]
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