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Project Noah Nature School
Family: Ichneumonidae
This small wasp was about 6mm long and very busily running around under strong night lights which were attracting other arthropods. Fast and cute.
At night at the local school under mercury vapour security lights.
Still to find species... Was it looking for food or a victim to parasitize or both ?? Checking subfamily Cryptinae...
Spotted on Oct 4, 2013
Submitted on Oct 5, 2013
7 Comments
Ha! True that!
Might have to open your electron microscope too :-)
It is about time I open my eyes a bit I think! Thanks for the info Mark and John :)
Wow!! Fantastic information John. Thanks for that. A good read coming up.
Ichneumonidae
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichneumonid...
And there are many many wasps that are even smaller than this. The smallest of all insects are wasps, which are parasitoids within the eggs of thrips (and less than 0.15 mm loong).
Thanks Tiz. I haven't checked but I suspect most wasps are small and it's just that humans typically notice the big ones... it's a theory anyway... possibly the same with moths and fungi.
I had no idea up to a few days ago that wasps could be so small... It looks like yours have a pair of fashionable goggles on :) Pretty little one!