Ichneumonidae (family)

2 Unidentified ichneumon wasp at Hackett, ACT

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

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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

   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
   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
   2 Oct 2024
Additional close-up detail of the parasite is shown in sighting 4598772.

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Location information

Sighting information

  • 1 Abundance
  • 1 Sep 2024 11:55 AM Recorded on
  • TimL Recorded by
  • 5mm to 12mm Animal size
  • Alive / healthy Animal health

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