
Ophion obscuratus - ID details
Some of the ID-ing characters that were accidentally visible on my images of this big'ol lady (~25mm body length) ...
There is a fair number of, mostly nocturnal, large "orange" Ichneumonid parasitoid wasps that all "look alike", commonly referred to as "Ophionid facies" even if many species are not in the genus Ophion or even subfamily Ophioninae (the most notable, but not the only exception being the genus Netelia in the subfam. Tryphoninae).
1) Top right: The facies and wing veination around the nose of the "horses head" make it an Ophioninae (not Tryphoninae, Netelia).
2) Some details in the wing and the complete occipital carina (bottom left) make it an Ophion.
3) The terminal segments (bottom right) make it a female - the very short ovipositor is also common in Ophion.
4) (In our region) the pattern of pale markings on head and dorsum makes it O. obscuratus or O. forticornis.
5) To separate the very common O. obscuratus from the rare O. forticornis:
a) The number of flagellomeres (top left) is >51 for obscuratus and <50 for forticornis.
b) The distance of the posterior ocelli to the occipital carina (bottom left) is <<2x the width of the first flagellomere in obscuratus and >2x f1 in forticornis.
Complete critter here:
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