ENY 3005 Family Identification

Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea: Ichneumonidae Pronunciation: ick-new-mon-NOID-dee-ah, ick-new-MON-ni-dee Common name: ichneumons

Identifying characteristics for the family Ichneumonidae include:

• Antennae apparently with 16 or more segments.
• Hind trochanters 2-segmented.
• Two recurrent veins.
• Usually larger than braconids; quite variable in color.
• Females often with long ovipositors.

• Species in the family Ichneumonidae are separated from those in Braconidae by having two, rather than one or zero recurrent veins.
• Ichneumons are important internal parasitoids of other insects. Common hosts are larvae and pupae of Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera.
• Family has more species than any other family of Hymenoptera, about 8,000 species in North America.

References:

• Page 322 and plate 15 in D. J. Borror and R. E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Page 373 in R. G. Bland and H. E. Jaques. 1978. How to Know the Insects, 3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 409 p.
• Page 708 in D. J. Borror, C. A. Triplehorn, and N. F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing. 875 p.
• Pages 585-586 in H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell III. 1998. Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. 680 p.

Links to other web sites

• The Parasitica -- Ichneumon, Chalcid, Braconid, Cynipid Wasps, etc. - Gordon's Insect World
• Ichneumon Wasps in the U F NATL -- a checklist of species found in the natural area adjacent to the University of Florida Entomology and Nematology building.
• Beneficial Insects of British Columbia Cranberry Bogs
• Diadegma insulare   

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Links to other Hymenoptera taxa: Symphyta, Cimbicidae, Diprionidae, Siricidae, Braconidae, Ichneumonidae, Chrysididae, Scoliidae, Mutillidae, Formicidae, Pompilidae, Vespidae, Sphecidae, Halictidae, Apidae.

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Prepared by John L. Foltz, University of Florida, Dept of Entomology & Nematology, 26 November 1998.
Updated 12 June 2001.