Infrequent Ichneumon Wasp
S6, Male, Face
Ellura
Infrequent Ichneumon Wasp
S7, Female, anterior
 
                      
Infrequent Ichneumon Wasp (Eremotylus sp)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera)
Family: Ichneumon Wasp (Wasp: Ichneumonoidea: Ichneumonidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Infrequent Ichneumon Wasp (Eremotylus sp)
This Photo:     🔍S7, Female, profile🔎

Thank you Rachel Behm & Jonathan Hoskins for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~13mm long female, ~15mm male (shown).
We suspect they are different species, but with a lack of knowledge of the genera we can't be sure. Notice the huge ocelli, compared to their size.
It's very interesting that around the world there is confusion about these. There is a new Mirid genus that has been given this name and a couple of databases have confused these with the Mirid bug; clearly not though
LOL
Rachel said "Eremotylus itself is so poorly known so I would love to see the specimen in person. If you see anymore please please take more pictures. I wish I could come over (from America) and catch them. Face and wing shots are very important for this group." We love her enthusiasm for our wildlife.
Given we've found 7 specimens, we are stoked to be able to add these sightings to Citizen Science databases to improve our knowledge of their existance & distribution in South Australia. We encourage everyone out there to post their interesting wildlife photo's to these databases (like iNaturalist) to improve Societies knowledge of our amazing wildlife; it's diversity & distribution.

Similar Species: Orange Caterpillar Parasite Wasp (Netelia sp ES01)

Copyright © 2018-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 25-Jul-2018
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.