The other day Alex calls me over to a spot in the back yard and asks me – what is that?
Holy Cra Moly! I think to myself….it looks like a giant wasp – or hornet, maybe a queen! It is slowly walking through the grass, I mean slowly, so I am not to worried about anyone getting stung. We go and get a little toy bug house, and let it walk right in.
This thing is mostly black, with some yellow legs and some yellow on the head. The body is at least twice the size of any normal wasp or hornet, about 2-3 inches long. Then there is the tail or stinger (don’t know what at this point) which is about 4-5 inches long!
I transferred it to a glass container so I could photograph it (I was in the middle of shooting jewelry so everything was setup anyway)
After a little research we found that it is a Giant ichneumon wasp. Harmless, but in the wasp family – this is a female, and the long tail is an ovipositor – you know for positing ovis.
It is for laying eggs into wood boring larva. We let it go…
- André
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