An update on efforts to identify this insect: Hi Tim Thank you for your enquiry. I’m sorry to say but this was beyond us, which I don’t often say. I thought it might have been a sawfly (pergid ) and sent it to one of our entomologists, he said “The waist between the mesosoma and metasoma (abdomen, loosely speaking) means it is not a pergid. I don't recognise it, but with those incredible scapes it should be famous. There is a long list of gall-forming wasps in the family Eurytomidae that look something like that but I could not find one with gigantic scapes like that.” Scapes are the base of the antennae. If you happen to capture one, could you send it to us and we can refine our identification. Sincerely David Bock Manager, Search & Discover | Visitor Experience and Education Australian Museum 1 William Street Sydney NSW 2010 Australia
Roger Farrow enquired about this to a colleague, Andy Austin who know parasitic wasps. Andy asked about it O/S. His reply to Roger was: "Hi Roger, My colleague Lars Krogmann in Germany has nailed it – 'This looks like the genus Aeschylia (Pteromalidae: Ormocerinae). Most likely it is Aeschylia mira, which was described by Boucek in 1988 based on specimens from NSW and QLD. That species has a red/black coloration that exactly matches the pattern of that on your photo. The species develops in stem galls on Callistemon salignum” '.
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