Ichneumonidae (family)

1 Unidentified ichneumon wasp at Hackett, ACT

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Identification history

	Ichneumonidae (family)	1 Oct 2024	SimoneC
	Unidentified	20 Sep 2024	TimL

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Significant sighting

SimoneC noted:

1 Oct 2024

The first record I can find of a koinobiont wasp on a jumping spider. The image of the wasp larvae is not very clear but is consistent with images on web building spiders

User's notes

The images show the orange-coloured parasite attached to the spider of sighting 4594706. Unsure what it is but assumed to be from some type of parasitic wasp.

3 comments

SimoneC wrote:

1 Oct 2024

This looks like it could be wasp larvae. A bit like this https://theconversation.com/mind-controlling-wasps-enslave-zombie-spiders-to-build-them-a-perfect-nest-45731 . The koinobiont parasitiods of spiders are in the Pimplinae subfamily of Ichneumonidae. These seem to attack web building spiders. I think the spider is a Myrmararchne (an ant mimic jumping spider), and I cannot find any reference to them being attacked by koinobiont wasps but some wasps do attack their egg sacs. It would have been great to to have bit clearer image of the larvae or to rear it through in captivity but probably pretty tricky. I will confirm it as an Ichneumonidae at this stage

TimL wrote:

1 Oct 2024

@SimoneC Thanks for this information. The spider behaved just like a foraging ant and was far too active to get any close-up images of the larva. I'll rework the images I have and will see if I can get any better detail out of them. If so, I'll let you know. Tim

TimL wrote:

2 Oct 2024

Additional close-up detail of the parasite is shown in sighting 4598772.

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