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Chalcid Wasp

Conura sp.

Description:

Small yellow wasp with bold, black markings. The abdomen has red stripes and the eyes are yellow. The antennae and wings are black although the underside of the antennae near the base is yellow. The face has an black pattern that stays mostly covered by the antennae as seen in the last image.

Habitat:

Cactus in chaparral

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6 Comments

Hi Sckel, thank you! I sure was excited to spot this little one. Great information!

Sckel
Sckel 10 years ago

Fantastic, Cindy. I think you were 'eager' to see one of these. :) The hind legs serve to press the ovipositor into the host body, that's what I read about them. I didn't realize that they use those legs to jump, as do some beetles with such legs. If I have another chance to see them, I try to observe how else to use their amazing legs modified.

Thank you Lauren, Mark and John! This one was was about 5 mm long. Active little one that had all the nearby jumping spiders excited :)

John La Salle
John La Salle 10 years ago

Beautiful pictures. These are really fantastic little wasps.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

What a great looking wasp. Looks like it might jump also with those hind femurs. What size is it?

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 10 years ago

Great pictures of this tiny little thing. Love these wasps, they are always so interesting and fun to find.

San Diego, California, USA

Spotted on Jan 22, 2014
Submitted on Jan 23, 2014

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