What on earth is this bug? Pic Inside

[ChrisNCT]

It looks like a cross between wasp, mayfly and a dragonfly. It is roughly about 6" long. Mean looking buger too!

It was found flying around my head at work so I caught it and brought it home. I don't have a clue even after a google search.

any clues?

Found here in Connecticut

 

[Navaros]

I'm not sure....but maybe some type of gall wasp? Whatever it is, it's pretty cool looking!

 

[ChoJinn]

i believe that's a type of Ichneumon Wasp

photo

the long tail is a heavily modified ovipositor

 

[Navaros]

Great thinking. I didn't even think about parasitic wasps.

 

[edesign]

ooooo...found one of those at work (dead), NEVER seen one with a ovipathingamabob (i knew what it was for at least lol and not a stinger) that long. Must've extended about 6-7"+ from the abdomen...put it in a ziploc and sent it with a coworker to give to an entomologist since we didn't know what it was. now i know...

crazy lookin things hehehehehe

 

[Navaros]

Well, the ovipositor is just a modified stinger really. Speaking of weird flying things. I was walking in my house just now and got hit in the face by this big fly thing. Not a cicada. It's crazy looking. Needless to say it is now in my freezer. ;P

 

[edesign]

Needless to say it is now in my freezer. ;P

something for extra crunch in the peanut butter tomorrow?

 

[Navaros]

Haha, you know it. Sweet crunchy revenge!!!! Gonna pin it. Because it's the craziest fly I've ever seen.

 

[ChoJinn]

actually i thought it was the other way around - the stinger is a modified ovipositor. Evolutionarily speaking i think a method of inserting eggs into orifices - into a tree, into the dirt etc. - would come before something as complicated as the cocktail of venom that comes out of a stinger. Don't quote me or anything, someone here may know better.

 

[Wade]

actually i thought it was the other way around - the stinger is a modified ovipositor. Evolutionarily speaking i think a method of inserting eggs into orifices - into a tree, into the dirt etc. - would come before something as complicated as the cocktail of venom that comes out of a stinger. Don't quote me or anything, someone here may know better.

Yes, you are correct. This is why male bees/wasps/ants cannot sting, no ovipositor to modify.

They use the long ovipositor to lay eggs in beetle larvae within logs.

Wade

 

[Jesse607]

Yes, you are correct. This is why male bees/wasps/ants cannot sting, no ovipositor to modify.

They use the long ovipositor to lay eggs in beetle larvae within logs.

Wade

I thought they laid their eggs in Horntail(sawfly?) larvae within logs?

 

[Wade]

You might be right, I may be thinking of a different wasp.

Wade

 

[Navaros]

Ack, what was I thinking. You are right, it's the other way around.hehe I don't know what was wrong with me last night. ;P