Hymenoptera Ichneumonidae

Ichneumonidae are a family of parasitic wasps belonging to the order Hymenoptera. To the untrained eye, these insects look like most wasps with two pairs of wings and a slender waist. A closer look will reveal a characteristic difference from other wasp families that is an identifier of these parasitoids. Other wasp families such as Apoidae and Vespidae have less than 13 antennal segments, where Ichneumonidae have 16 or more. This trait alone is a key identifier of this family.

Photo provided by J. Garcia, 2015

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Ichneumons are found on every continent except for Antarctica, and occupy all terrestrial habitats. They are important in the control of agricultural pest populations. Ichneumonidae, in it's Latin root, loosely translates to tracker. Considering that this family uses pheromones and other predatory cues to track a host to inject it's eggs into, this seems like an appropriate name.

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"There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent & omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidæ with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice." -Darwin, 1860