Long-tailed Giant Ichneumonid Wasp

Megarhyssa macrurus

"Megarhyssa macrurus" is a species of large ichneumon wasp. It is a predatory insect, notable for its extremely long ovipositor. It uses this to deposit an egg into a tunnel in dead wood bored by a similarly large species of horntail. Another of its common names is 'stump stabber' referring to this behaviour.
Stump Stabber - Megarhyssa macrurus ssp. macrurus I was so excited to find this giant ichneumonid wasp (Megarhyssa sp.) laying eggs in a snag yesterday. I've only witnessed this process one other time. I watched her for 45 minutes and would have stayed to watch the entire process, but I had to leave to take my son to baseball practice, lol. Habitat: There were 3 wasps drilling into this snag! Deciduous forest Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/U0X24paTHa0?feature=share https://www.jungledragon.com/image/150556/stump_stabber_-_megarhyssa_sp.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/150558/stump_stabber_-_megarhyssa_sp.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/150557/stump_stabber_-_megarhyssa_sp.html Geotagged,Megarhyssa macrurus,Spring,United States

Appearance

"Megarhyssa macrurus" has a reddish-brown body approximately 2 inches long. It has black and yellow-orange stripes. Its wings are transparent and the body elongated. The female of this species has an ovipositor of approximately 4 inches in length. Males are smaller.
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. Geotagged,Giant Ichneumon,Giant Ichneumon Wasp,Megarhyssa macrurus,Spring,United States,ichneumon wasp,male Giant Ichneumon Wasp,male wasp,wasp

Naming

"Macrurus" is from the Greek words ' meaning "long", and ' meaning tail.Subspecies include:
⤷ "M. m. icterosticta", Michener, 1939
⤷ "M. m. lunator"
⤷ "M. m. macrurus"
Stump Stabber - Megarhyssa macrurus ssp. macrurus I was so excited to find this giant ichneumonid wasp (Megarhyssa sp.) laying eggs in a snag yesterday. I've only witnessed this process one other time. I watched her for 45 minutes and would have stayed to watch the entire process, but I had to leave to take my son to baseball practice, lol. Habitat: There were 3 wasps drilling into this snag! Deciduous forest Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/U0X24paTHa0?feature=share https://www.jungledragon.com/image/150556/stump_stabber_-_megarhyssa_sp.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/150558/stump_stabber_-_megarhyssa_sp.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/150557/stump_stabber_-_megarhyssa_sp.html Geotagged,Megarhyssa,Megarhyssa macrurus,Megarhyssa macrurus ssp. macrurus,Spring,United States

Distribution

"M. macrurus" is found across the eastern half of the United States, reaching into the extreme south of Canada near the Great Lakes.
Stump Stabber - Megarhyssa macrurus ssp. macrurus I was so excited to find this giant ichneumonid wasp (Megarhyssa sp.) laying eggs in a snag yesterday. I've only witnessed this process one other time. I watched her for 45 minutes and would have stayed to watch the entire process, but I had to leave to take my son to baseball practice, lol. Habitat: There were 3 wasps drilling into this snag! Deciduous forest Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/U0X24paTHa0?feature=share https://www.jungledragon.com/image/150556/stump_stabber_-_megarhyssa_sp.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/150558/stump_stabber_-_megarhyssa_sp.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/150557/stump_stabber_-_megarhyssa_sp.html Geotagged,Giant Ichneumon Wasp,Megarhyssa,Megarhyssa macrurus,Spring,United States,giant ichneumonid wasp,ichneumonidae,stump stabber,wasp

Behavior

"M. macrurus" is harmless to humans; they are parasitoids on the larvae of the pigeon horntail, which bore tunnels in decaying wood. Female "Megarhyssa macrurus" are able to detect these larvae through the bark, and lay their eggs on them; within a couple of weeks, the Megarhyssa larvae will have consumed their host and pupate. They will emerge as an adult the coming summer.

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderHymenoptera
FamilyIchneumonidae
GenusMegarhyssa
SpeciesM. macrurus
Photographed in
United States of America