---

June 24, 2006.
Collected by sweeping on the edge of our town park.
Size 5mm, moved fast, never attempted to fly.
Could anyone please suggest at least family.

---

Looks like a parasitic wasp - superfamily Chalcidoidea, family most likely to be Pteromalidae... any more would require John Noyes at the BM(NH), London because Pteromalidae seems to be the 'dumping' family ... anything that doesn't fit another family goes into Pteromalidae! ;)

If you are interested in keying them out you first need to confirm the family and I think that is still best done with "The Hymenoptera" by Ian Gauld and Barry Bolton. This is a really useful book that covers the whole order with keys to family at least.

If you are happy it is a pteromalid then you need "Illustrated key to West-Palearctic Genera of Pteromalidae" by Zdenek Boucek and Jean Yves Rasplus. This is a nice book but the illustrations are not as beautiful as your photos - they are purely line-drawings and SEM photos of body parts to aid the keying process. ;)

Lovely photos by the way. Do you collect these insects and then photograph them in a small 'studio' at home? And what lens/flash equipment are you using? :D

---

12 antennal segments.......why not.....Cleptidae?

---

You could be right cthirion - well done ... now I am just trying to work out how I got my ID so wrong! :o

---

Many thanks Chris and cthirion,
My best guess initially was Chrysididae, it bent its head downwards (without turning into a ball), yet I never saw a Chrysididae like this. Now I also think it resembles a Cleptes sp.

---

I don't think Cleptes are very commonly met in the countryside. Ironically, I caught a few Cleptes a few years ago but they were in a Malaise trap ... and somehow they don't look as good when they are pickled!! :D

---

There's a friend of mine who studies Chrysididae, so there's a good chance we'll learn the exact ID soon :).

---

View an image here: http://internt.nh...31_W_1.jpg.

In my experience, you see them very little but they can suddenly turn up regularly in Malaise traps. Interesting to see Chris' remark above.

---

Thanks Paul, I've also found that classical picture by Curtis.

---

Hi Dima,

A friend of mine (Theo Peeters) identified your specimen as a female of Cleptes semiauratus (Chrysididae: Cleptinae).

Jan Willem

---

Great, thank you Jan, so it's settled!

---

Only to add http://www.chrysis.net/index_en.php is a nice site devoted to Chrysididae (from Weblinks Other Insects) Robert