Wasps

[Doug Yanega]

>Can some one help me idenify this wasp( I think) .Its got stick legs,
>yellow, brown and
>black in color. Stinger is 3 times its body size, rolls up to its
>abdomin.
>Hangs out in the trunk of Mapel trees.
>
>If you can help please E-Mail me at: Thaishon at ix.netcom.com.

That is a female Megarhyssa, an Ichneumon wasp (as Gordon observed), and it
does indeed drill its ovipositor into trees to parasitize horntail wasp
(family Siricidae, usually Tremex columba) larvae inside the tree. Just for
reference, it cannot sting, despite the fearsome size of the ovipositor.

Cheers,

Doug Yanega    Depto. de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas,
Univ. Fed. de Minas Gerais, Cx.P. 486, 30.161-970 Belo Horizonte, MG   BRAZIL
phone: 031-448-1223, fax: 031-44-5481  (from U.S., prefix 011-55)
                  http://www.icb.ufmg.br/~dyanega/
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
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