Giant Ichneumon Wasp (Male)- Megarhyssa macrurus

Males are about 5 cm long, and have black and yellowish-orange stripes on their thorax. Wings are transparent and the abdomen is elongated. Females have a 4 inch ovipositor at the end of their abdomen, but males do not have an ovipositor.

There were numerous males hanging out on this log - at least 6 of them. There were no females in sight, so my guess is that they could sense that a female was about to chew her way out of the log, and they were waiting to mate with her... Adult male wasps, eager to mate with newly emerged females, can actually discern wood-chewing vibrations and use their antennae to detect the pheromones. So, males will gather on a tree where they can "hear" and "smell" a female chewing her way out and they will wait for her to emerge so they can mate.