Two-toned Caterpillar Parasite Wasp
Female, Wing Venation
Ellura
Armyworm Parasitic Wasp
S2 Female, dorsal
 
                      
Armyworm Parasitic Wasp (Ichneumon promissorius)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera)
Family: Ichneumon Wasp (Wasp: Ichneumonoidea: Ichneumonidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Armyworm Parasitic Wasp (Ichneumon promissorius)
This Photo:     S1 Female, dorsal
Other names: Armyworm Parasitoid Wasp or Banded Caterpillar Parasite Wasp

Thank you Dan B (HeadSoup) for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~12-14mm long Females, with the male we caught measured ~14mm.
Black body, orange/red legs & white stripes on the abdomen and antennae. The body has several white spots.
Females do not have visible ovi-positors. The males look quite different, being more orange and appearing thinner. Their antennae are longer, more orange and don't have the white stripe shown on the females.
We have recently bought some jeweler's scales. They only measure in 10mg increments so aren't really accurate enough for inverts. But may work in a comparitive sense (ie between our finds).
S1 weighed around 30mg.

Copyright © 2019-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 27-Feb-2019
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.