Chalcididae (family)
1 Unidentified chalcid wasp at Lawson, ACT
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| Chalcididae (family) | 28 Aug 2025 | MichaelBedingfield | ||
| Chalcididae (family) | 28 Aug 2025 | TimL |
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User's notes
A follow-up sighting to 4690018 to provide some details of this 4mm parasitic wasp’s head shape and associated features. Close inspection of the images shows the head’s shape to include a groove between the two large compound eyes, from which the antennae protrude. The antennae are able to fold back into this groove without interfering with the vision of the compound eyes and these wasps can often be seen at rest in this posture. On top of the head are three simple eyes, the ocelli. It appears that as the groove has formed over time between the compound eyes, a ridge has developed above the groove, and this has disrupted the layout of the simple eyes. There is now one simple eye at the front of the ridge, looking forwards, and two simple eyes behind the ridge, looking backwards. I’ve noticed variations of this arrangement of the eyes, antennae and head shapes of these smaller parasitic wasps (e.g. sighting 4484821) and assume that this has occurred as the wasps’ head shapes have evolved over time.
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Location information
- Coordinates 149.094429-35.227859
- Altitude 606.2m
- Maps Lawson North Grasslands
- Places Lawson, ACT
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 25 Aug 2025 06:35 AM Recorded on
- TimL Recorded by
- Less than 5mm Animal size
Collections
- TimL NatureMapr Canberra & Southern Tablelands Chalcididae (family) Parasitic wasps (numerous families) Wasps (Hymenoptera, Apocrita) Insects
Species information
- Chalcididae (family) Scientific name
- Unidentified chalcid wasp Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 907.8m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Record quality
Quality score
7 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes