Project Noah is a tool to explore and document wildlife and a platform to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere.
Project Noah is a tool to explore and document wildlife and a platform to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere.
Megarhyssa macrurus
It is a predatory insect, notable for its extremely long ovipositor. It uses this to deposit an egg into the tunnel bored by another species of wasp. It has a reddish-brown body approximately 2 inches (51 mm) long.
urban garden
This strange insect was spotted my work colleague, Bruce McDonald, he gave me permission to use this photo. He grew up in the area and had never seen anything like this. He showed the photo to another colleague and they said he should show the insect to me! So I borrowed his memory card, edited and posted the photo.
Thanks for the ID Liam. This is a fascinating insect Goody. My colleague at work will be happy it got identified.
Wonderful insect! It's amazing to me that they can track prey through the bark of a tree and then insert their ovipositor through that bark, all the while hitting their target to lay an egg on it. Amazing creatures.
Despite the long "stinger" (correctly an ovipositor as you stated), they are completely harmless unless they are manhandled. Here's one I saw last year: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/781...
Lat: 43.00, Long: -79.11
Spotted on Jun 17, 2012
Submitted on Jun 19, 2012
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