Wasp ID, UK

htcdude · #1 (**permalink**) 21-05-2011, 06:17 PM

Found 2 of these at home today. Is it an Ichneumon species?

Thanks!

Nige

Jason Green · #2 (**permalink**) 21-05-2011, 08:55 PM

Evening Nigel,

Ichneumonidae... By 'Ichneumon species', are you asking if it's in the genera by the same name? If so, I have no idea! It looks nicely marked, whichever one it is.

Take care,

Jason

htcdude · #3 (**permalink**) 22-05-2011, 09:44 PM

Yeah I think that's what I mean

It could be anything!

Any ideas anyone else?

Nige

htcdude · #4 (**permalink**) 24-05-2011, 11:12 AM

Sorry to bump this but has anyone got any ideas??

Nige

nikolai_avenger · #5 (**permalink**) 24-05-2011, 02:35 PM

Hello, Nige.

Might be Amblyteles (Ichneumonidae), at a guess. Could be owt!

Have a look here and see if you can find anything you are happy to correlate it with.

Cheers. Nik.

htcdude · #6 (**permalink**) 24-05-2011, 02:36 PM

Thanks for the idea and the link Nik I shall have a look

Nige

laetoli · #7 (**permalink**) 02-06-2011, 10:53 AM

Hi Nige,

Yes, I agree, your insect is very similar to mine (on the other thread) - well with respect to the number and position of stripes and general shape - I imagine there are important subtleties that I'm unaware of.

I followed the link that Nik posted and Amblyteles armatorius certainly seems to be an extremely similar insect but I think that web page has the male and female the wrong way round cf. this French site:
INSECTES14ter-3-1
(Amblyteles armatorius is about a quarter way down that very long page) and the Collins Guide, both of which have the male with the more slender abdomen. Apparently, Amblyteles armatorius is an endoparasite of the caterpillars of many species, especially noctuids.

All I can gather is that identifying ichneumon wasps is very difficult, but I'm calling mine a female Amblyteles spp., possibly armatorius, until I get some confounding evidence.

Take care,
Paul

Jason Green · #8 (**permalink**) 02-06-2011, 12:06 PM

Yes, very difficult indeed. It's a long-enough process getting to sub-family, then you gave the job of seeking-out European literature to cover that sub-group. To genera, hopefully to species!

We have about 2,000 species of Ichneumon wasp in the UK, and colour-patterns are often repeated through tens of different species, and often sub-families too. More reliable are structural and wing-features, often rather subtle.

nikolai_avenger · #9 (**permalink**) 02-06-2011, 12:28 PM

Yes, they're a bit of a pain to be honest, much as I love to watch them. They occur in good numbers in my garden and I'm always finding 'new' ones. Whilst it can be said that there are a couple of distinctive ones that can be narrowed down to species level (in my case without microscope or 'decent' camera') for the most part it is a case of 'one of the ichneumons' which is a distinctly unsatisfying conclusion (to me, anyway!)...

You can always try the HymIs forum as well, I've had a few identified on there.

Keep posting them on here as well though, they're great.

Cheers. Nik.