More wasps!

[Acutipuerilis]

Hi All,
I'm going to bow to fashion, and see where you get with a couple of wasps that may or may not be completely unidentifiable...

This one was about 5 mm long, off dandelions and grass. I particularly like the hairy wings:


And a wingless chalcid, about 3 mm long:


All thoughts appreciated!
Joe

[Jason Green]

Afternoon Joe,

I think I'll have to pass on the first, having put aside any thoughts about Braconidae for now. The second (the third picture) reminds me of the one you didn't attach - - which I'm pretty certain is a Torymid wasp. I don't know if Torymids come in wingless forms, so will continue thinking/researching.

Take care,

Jason

[Acutipuerilis]

Thanks Jason. I didn't post the other one because it looked too hard! There are very substantial differences between that and the wingless one, though (e.g. antennae). Let's hope someone else can shed light on one or two of them...

[Jason Green]

Try Diapriidae for the first - within correct antennal segmentation and size range, though I can't see too much of the wing venation if there is anything there. The abdomen is hidden too, so can't quite go by that either.

What do you think?

[Acutipuerilis]

I reckon you may have got it there, Jason - the reduced venation is also characteristic, and they often do seem to have the hairy wings. Thanks!

[Jason Green]

...it's my pleasure to assist you for once!

[JRsbugs]

Hi Joe,

Your first one looks like some I have named Diapriidae. I found a site with keys, they might help!

The Diapriidae

The one with orange abdomen looks the same as one I got in October last year. It does have small wings, I marked mine as around 1.5mm.

The yellow legged one also is very similar to another I have, which was again very small at around 1.5mm and I have it marked as Aphelinus but I can't be sure.

I can upload a pic of the short-winged wasp so you can see the wings.

Janet

[JRsbugs]

This could have been 2mm long, I was at closest range with 105mm macro lens and 2x TC. I think I get 60 times magnification, measures 120mm or so fully blown.

[Acutipuerilis]

Thanks Janet - it certainly does seem to be a very similar thing to yours, if not identical. Sounds like we're all agreed on Diapriidae for the other, as well. I wonder whether we'll ever be able to get any further with these... the keys of course were written for microscopic examination, but I still hope that some of them are visually recognisable at this sort of magnification, even if the features used to identify them traditionally need dissection or at least a higher power (of whatever sort... ).

[JRsbugs]

Joe, I have now managed to get registered on the HYMIS forum so I will put mine on there to see what can be found out.

With such distinctive colouring I would have thought there's a good chance of an ID, and as we have both seen them they are probably not that rare to not have been identified.