Alloplasta piceater

Alloplasta piceator is an ichneumonid from the subfamily Banchinae, active in late spring around deciduous trees.

In the UK it's little recorded, with previous confirmed sightings from the north of England and South Wales, only.

The relatively short ovipositor and largely red metasoma (the abdomen beyond the first segment) are useful features for recognising A. piceator within the ichneumonid subfamily Banchinae and separate it from the only other British species of Alloplasta, A. plantaria, which has a very different colour pattern, mainly black with some white markings.

As with all other species of Banchinae, this is a koinobiont endoparasitoid of Lepidoptera larvae. 'Koinobiont endoparasitoid' means, while the host is parasitised internally as an early instar larva, it's allowed to develop even while being fed upon, until eventually it succumbs.

Alloplasta piceator is a known parasitoid of two species of Quaker moths, Orthosia gothica (Hebrew Character) and O. gracilis (Powdered Quaker) with other suspected hosts not yet confirmed.