Long-tailed Wasp - Megalyra sp.

Family Megalyridae - Long-tailed Wasps

This page contains pictures and information about the Long-tailed Wasps that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.


Male, body length 15mm

They are called Long-tailed Wasps because females have the very long ovipositor, some species have "tail" as long as eight times their body length. They usually have dark body and banded wings.

In pictures the wasp was a male which was found in Anstead Forest on 30 Dec 2009. The wasp was searching for something on a fallen log.



Larvae in this family are external-parasitoids of wood-boring beetles. The female wasps come here searching for host tunnel and the new female may emerge. We believed the male wasp we found was looking for females there.



Notice the wasp's antenna is 14-segmented, which is the characteristic of the family Megalyridae wasps. Its head is round like a ball.


Reference:
1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 940.
3. Northern Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
4. What wasp is that? - An interactive identification guide to the Australasian families of Hymenoptera, 2007.