Found him in my driveway (Philly) this morning. About 2" long with a black thorax/abdomen and orange head, antenna (long) and legs. Had a pair of ~3" feeler-type things sticking out the back of the abdomen. Small wings. Kept arching its back and sticking its rear stright up into the air. Looked pissed off when I poked it with a stick.
I dunno. I would take the pics to your local zoo and ask.
It looks like a cross between a wasp and a dragonfly.
I had a question about a dying tree in my yard and my neighbor suggested I take a cutting to the county Cooperative Extension. There was a woman there with a bug in a cup. It bore its way out of her log home.
The county rep looked at it, defined what it was and told her that it was inside the log when it was a tree as a larvae. Feeling the warmth of the sun hitting the log it bore its way out. Unfortunately it bore inside the home. She commented that there were holes on the outside of her new home about the size of a pencil but she filled them and forgot 'em.
See if there's a County Cooperative Extension or Farmer's Aid or something in your area. It doesn't have mandabels like a boring insect but I would stay away from that big butt thing.
Dan
Or you can try calling a natural history museum, ask for the Entomology department. It's not like these guys are bombarded with calls, I suspect they would love the attention.
I once did a similar thing for a bird that had laid an egg in the middle of a path at my sisters house. If you got near the egg (which was rather hard to see of course) the mother would start flailing around near it pretending its wing was broken to distract you away from it. I have forgetten the name of the bird.
Probably a Killdeer (the bird, not the bug). I was going to say the bug was some form of paper wasp, but not with the tails sticking out of it.
actually, my neighbor is a scientist at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philly, so I shot him an email.
also, after she saw the pics, my wife (in an email entitled "Bug Terror") said she will not go home without knowing what it was.
also, my house is brick and poured concrete. FTW!
Buzz Killington wrote: my wife (in an email entitled "Bug Terror") said she will not go home without knowing what it was. FTW!
It's a win win kind o day! Get out the beer.
ichneumon wasp
I never will forget the time I was working on a car in my driveway under a silver maple tree, and kerplunk! A large wasp (cicada killer) and an unfortunate cicada landed a few feet away from me and proceeded to make quite a racket. Needless to say, the cicada didn't make it. Fascinating!
a wasp that listens to Neu? cool
No can see.
Looks like a parasitic wasp to me. Good thing to have around, especially if you've got a garden.
oldtin wrote:
winnAr!
turns out 'twas indeed a female giant ichneumon wasp.
From Wiki (because we know everything there is perfect)
The Ichneumonoidea are insects classified in the hymenopteran suborder Apocrita. The superfamily is made up of the ichneumon wasps (often inaccurately called "ichneumon flies"; family Ichneumonidae) and the braconids (family Braconidae). Like other parasitic wasps, they were long placed in the "Parasitica", variously considered as an infraorder or an unranked clade, but actually not a monophyletic group.
The superfamily Ichneumonoidea has been estimated to contain well over 80,000 different species. The ichneumon wasps are more familiar to non-entomologists, being larger and about three times as diverse as the braconids.
They are solitary insects, and most are parasitoids—the larvae feeding on or in another insect which finally dies. As with all hymenopterans, ichneumons are closely related to ants and bees.
Members of the family Ichneumonidae are usually larger than members of the Braconidae, and are distinguished primarily by details of wing venation. Many species in both families utilize polydnaviruses to suppress the immune system of the host insect.
Some members use many different insects as a host, others are very specific in host choice. Various ichneumons are used successfully as biological control agents in controlling pests such as flies or beetles.
Female Megarhyssa laying eggsIchneumon wasp species are highly diverse, ranging from 3 mm (1/8-inch) to 13 cm (5 inches) long. Most are slender, with the females of many species (particularly in the genus Megarhyssa) having an extremely long ovipositor for laying eggs. The female finds a host and lays an egg on, near, or inside the host's body. Upon hatching, the larval ichneumon feeds either externally or internally, killing the host when they themselves are ready to pupate. Despite looking formidable, the ovipositor does not deliver a sting like many wasps or bees. It can be used by the wasps to bore into and lay eggs inside rotten wood.
5 inches! And I thought cicada-killers were nasty sumbitches.
"They are solitary insects, and most are parasitoids—the larvae feeding on or in another insect which finally dies"
Duke wrote: 5 inches! And I thought cicada-killers were nasty sumbitches.
Ahhhhh what you are doing touching them?! Those things are big enough to devour portions of your soul in seconds!!
Duke wrote: 5 inches! And I thought cicada-killers were nasty sumbitches.
Ok those things look like they are from some horror movie and must be destroyed with fire...lots and lots of fire...
In reply to rebelgtp:
God its been forever since I have watched Aliens I should really watch it again...
So basically it is the terrestrial version of this:
See, bugs like that are why bugs in general creep the hell out of me.
Anything with more than four legs goes squish as a rule.
Shawn
Wow. I haven't had the crawlies like that in a LONG time.
Trans_Maro wrote: See, bugs like that are why bugs in general creep the hell out of me. Anything with more than four legs goes squish as a rule. Shawn
"You feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?"
You guys haven't seen the video of the Japanese Hornets destroying a Honey Bee colony, i gather?
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