Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Ichneumon for ID, please

Posted by Martin Cooper on 09-09-2013 19:59
#1

Small ichneumon fly - 6 mm from top of head to end of body - found dead in a jar which contained an olive leaf. The leaf was folded over and a pupa had been attached in the fold. The insect must have emereged from the pupa. The olive tree was growing on my patio here in Ipswich, East Suffolk, England (Lat/Lng: 52.061168, 1.159024). Leaf found in July, dead insect found in September. I have never worked with such a small insect before and, as you will see in some of the photos, I made a mess of pinning it.

First the insect viewed from above.

Posted by Martin Cooper on 09-09-2013 20:01
#2

from below

Posted by Martin Cooper on 09-09-2013 20:02
#3

the face

Posted by Martin Cooper on 09-09-2013 20:03
#4

antennae

Posted by Martin Cooper on 09-09-2013 20:03
#5

side view

Posted by Martin Cooper on 09-09-2013 20:04
#6

side detail

Posted by Martin Cooper on 09-09-2013 20:05
#7

and from the other side

Posted by Martin Cooper on 09-09-2013 20:06
#8

close up

Posted by ChrisR on 09-09-2013 21:54
#9

Nice photos Martin but you really need a specialist forum. Try posting to the 'Hymenopterist's Forum' Facebook group or to the HymIS website. Getting to subfamily is difficult ... to species takes expertise that only a handful of people have. Gavin Broad at the NHM is one such person.

Posted by Martin Cooper on 10-09-2013 00:11
#10

Thanks Chris, I've applied to join HymIS but haven't heard back from them yet. I'll check out the Facebook group.

Best wishes,
Martin

Posted by John Carr on 10-09-2013 04:45
#11

Gavin Broad's key to subfamilies may help: http://www.brc.ac...ly_key.pdf.

Posted by Graeme Cocks on 10-09-2013 05:51
#12

Thanks John. I've grabbed that key as well. I assume it is for UK species, but with that in mind I'll still try it out on Australian ichneumonids. A bit on knowledge should rub off if nothing else.
Graeme

Posted by Martin Cooper on 10-09-2013 10:01
#13

Thanks John. I've already tried to use that key but but haven't been able to come to a convincing ID. I've now been accepted to HymIS and started a thread there: http://www.forum....mp;t=11224.

Regards,
Martin

Posted by Pierre-Nicolas Libert on 10-09-2013 16:25
#14

This is Itoplectis alternans female.