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Dark Bluish, ant with wings, or a Wasp ?
Spotted in a tropical semi forest location in northen part of India. Normally found in Indian subcontinent.
Dark bluish color, an inch in size. This has a long tail too. This was spotted together with the one (golden color wasp) which I uploaded minutes back.
Spotted on Nov 9, 2013
Submitted on Nov 9, 2013
9 Comments
Yes, here is a good image of one: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/r...
Maybe the ovipositor is extruded in the image above?
Just received the following back from by colleague (Gary Gibson) who wrote the definitive work on Cleonyminae a few years back.
"Yes, based on the pronotal structure and what appears to be raptorial front legs it does appear to be an Oodera, but nothing like anything I have seen before. A fantastic specimen. I do not suppose the caught it?"
So, it appears to be an undescribed species of Oodera.
Here's a checklist of Indian pteromalids (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources/research-...) which may or may not help to track it down
Some pics of Oodera here: http://bugguide.net/node/view/737804
Short ovipositor, though ..
Good for now.
I have sent the link to a colleague who knows a lot more about them than I do, and he might be able to give us a more authoritative idea.
Good job, John! Thanks for your expertise.
Unfortunately there is not much info about this family, mostly from Africa.
Under these circumstancies I suggest that we take Parasitoid Wasp as common name and Cleonyminae as scientific name. Would you agree to that?
By the way - nice picture of a really beautiful and not that common wasp.
Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae - subfamily Cleonyminae
Not sure of the genus - but those enlarged front legs should narrow it down quite a bit. Probably Oodera or something close.
Looks for me like a wasp of Ichneumonidae or Braconidae. But I might be wrong with the family name, just a hint...