what is this?

[Mr. Irminia]

I found this little guy at work and thought it looked interesting, but wasnt sure what it is. heres a couple of pics

 

[Vespula]

It's a horntail. They're also called wood wasps. They have menacing looking ovipositors, but unlike many other wasps, they can't sting. They are awesome! Nice find! If you're wanting to keep it, a shallow dish of sugar water or honey will do nicely, plus a regular shallow water dish.

 

[Mr. Irminia]

thanks for the info, my next question was gonna be what do they eat. lol

 

[Vespula]

The Larvae like to eat wood, rotting or otherwise. They'll lay their eggs in dying trees.

 

[Terry D]

The Larvae like to eat wood, rotting or otherwise. They'll lay their eggs in dying trees.

Some relation to Ichneumons, I'm guessing?

 

[Vespula]

Some relation to Ichneumons, I'm guessing?

They're in the same order... and that's about where the similarities end. The Horntails are in the family Siricidae, and the Ichneumons are in Ichneumonidae.

However the larvae of several large horntails are the favorite hosts for the larger ichneumons' parasitic larvae.