#pelecinus polyturator

[dailybugfacts]

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TODAY'S FACT IS

Did you know that Pelecinus Polyturator is a long wasp, native to the American continents?

Males are much less common in the northern reaches of their range and much more common the further south. They can get away with that because these wasps are parthenogenic, meaning the females don't need a male to reproduce.

Regardless of whether or not a male is involved, these girlbosses lay their eggs directly into the grubs of June beetles.

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Photo by TheBugLady at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

[northerlyy]

American Pelecinid Wasp (Pelecinus polyturator), taken July 29, 2024, in Georgia, US

My beautiful skinny queen.. How must it be to have such a perfect figure? For such an elegant looking insect, you'd think they'd be agile, but I've had these guys just. come at my face. They have collided with me, though they're not alone in that. Too many wasps have crashed into my face. How would you feel if you turned around and immediately received a face full of WASP?

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Pretty incredible-looking female Pelecinid Wasp (Pelecinus polyturator). Check out the length of that abdomen!! It was so cool, I did not do the best job of focusing on the whole wasp :-). Female Pelecinid wasps use that long abdomen as a tool for laying eggs in soil, poking around until they detect a beetle larvae that they can deposit an egg on. When the wasp larvae hatches, it devours the beetle larvae and then pupates in the soil, emerging as an adult wasp.

[risski25]

he just buggin out bro

first time seeing one a these. american pelecinid wasp. interesting guy

[whatevernatureis]

Pelecinus polyturator, a kind of parasitoid wasp. They lay their eggs inside beetle grubs using their wacky “scorpion tail” and their larvae eat the grub from the inside out, killing it. Killing their host is why they’re parasitoid- normally parasites, such as tapeworms, don’t “want” to kill their host because that would kill the parasite. Not Pelecinus. Pelecinus don’t care.

Pelecinus polyturator is apparently widespread in North America; I took this picture in Cheyenne, WY (where I had to go for a doctor’s appointment, which has an interesting biological backstory that I’ll write up eventually). However, Pelecinus also occurs in South America; I saw them with some frequency in Ecuador.

Thanks to my friends Meg Wilson and James Erdmann who identified this lady for me!

[addicted2wasps]

Holding a Pelecinus polyturator! One of my favourite wasps! :D

[addicted2wasps]

Some various Hymenoptera: Pelecinus, Monomachus, Oxytorus, Ctenopelmatinae sp. , Bethylus, Vanhornia, A mixture of Proctotrupoidea, Ichneumonidae and Bethylidae.