The female giant ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa atrata) has the longest ovipositor of any wasp.
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).
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Location: Haydenville, Massachusetts, , United States, USA
Photo credit: © Custom Life Science Images / Alamy / Afripics
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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
