#2164 - Dryinus sp. - Pincer Wasp
A bizarrely proportioned wasp that seems to think it's a praying mantis, that I spotted investigating the trunk of a eucalyptus. The name means 'of oak trees' because that's where the first species was collected.
Over 242 species in this genus have been described worldwide, and it's quite well represented in amber too - Baltic, Dominican and Burmese ambers have all preserved species. The family Dryinidae has nearly 2000 species, with many wingless, but all are ectoparasitoids, usually of planthoppers in the families Cicadellidae, Delphacidae, Flatidae and Membracidae. The weird forelegs are used to seize the victim before they can jump away. The larva soon grows large enough to protrude from the body, and grows a hardened sac called a "thylacium" for protection. When the host eventually succumbs the wasp larva leaves the body and spins a cocoon elsewhere.
This particular one is remarkably large for a Dryinid - almost 2cm long. That seriously limits the kind of planthopper it could be parasitising around Wagga Wagga - I suspect the larger Eurybrachids are the only option.
Silvalite Reserve, Wagga Wagga, NSW