A female giant ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa atrata) withdraws her ovipositor after laying an egg deep inside a tree trunk.
The female giant ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa atrata) has the longest ovipositor of any wasp. The ovipositor is a structure that evolved into the stinger in other bee and wasp species, but in ichneumids it still serves its original function of depositing eggs. The giant ichneumon's ovipositor can be up to 142 mm (about inches) long. The wasp uses her ovipositor to drill deep inside a log and lay eggs in the tunnel of a larval wood-boring pigeon horntail (Tremex columba). In this photo, the wasp is withdrawing her ovipositor after having deposited an egg. The two loops behind her are sheaths that normally protect the stylet.
Size: 5184px × 3456px
Location: Haydenville, Massachusetts, , United States, USA
Photo credit: © Custom Life Science Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: animal, animals, arthropod, arthropods, atrata, giant, hymenoptera, hymenopteran, ichneumon, ichneumonidae, insect, insects, islc, long, longest, megarhyssa, ovipositor, ovipositors, parasite, parasitoid, rhyssinae, wasp, wasps, wood
