A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
A very bizarre-looking wasp from the parasiticTorymidae family (Podagrioninae subfamily). Very small, only about 5mm in length. It's pair of antennae and hindlegs is different from other wasp species. It is even smaller than this small moth, try to spot it in the second picture of this spotting http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/221...
Around bushes in an oil palm plantation in Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia.
Spotting #444 (the unluckiest number in Chinese superstition). Special thanks to John La Salle for the family identification. >>>Map accuracy : 500 m diameter.
Spotted on Mar 28, 2010
Submitted on Apr 21, 2013
5 Comments
Yes, I search it out and found many similar-looking wasps.
Thank you once again John.
ChunXing - No, not Agaonidae. There are certainly several agaonids (and their parasitoids) which have quite long ovipositors and might be similar in appearance. However there are quite a few differences. Probably the most distinctive is the hind legs in your wasp - where the femur (basal segment) is swollen and has teeth on the bottom side. The combination of metallic coloration, swollen and toothed femur, and long exserted ovipositor pretty much place it in the tribe Podagrionini. (Having said that, with chalcids there is always an exception to anything you say). The most common genus in this group is Podagrion (and if you google Podagrion and look at the images you will see similar looking wasps). I am just concerned that the club (end of the antenna) is a bit larger than you would normally see in Podagrion, and it could possibly be one of the other things in this group.
Note that I made a mistake in my earlier message - I have not kept up with the classification of this group, and it is now considered to be subfamily Monodontomerinae, tribe Podagrionini.
Incidentally - agaonids are all associated with figs.
John (方强恩)
Hello John La Salle, could it possibly be an Agaonidae wasp ?
Thank you very much John.
Very cool.
This is a parasitic wasp in the family Torymidae, subfamily Podagrioninae.
These are parasitoids within mantid egg cases.
I will check it out and see if I can get back to you with a genus.