(BG) Giant Ichneumon Wasp/Stump Stabber (Megarhyssa macrurus) - D&M MD 9/2/11 - (pronounced Ick-new-mon) Good bug, doesn't sting.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/610725
It has no stinger. Apparently it's a real mystery how it knows how to find the Horntail Wasp's larvae. The Horntail is damaging to forests because it drills into the tree, lays it's eggs, and the larvae damage the trees. The Ichneumon Wasp comes along and pushes it's ovipositor down into the wood (they don't know how it manages to do that either) until it reaches the larva of the Horntail and then it lays an egg inside the living host. The egg feeds off the Horntail and little baby Ichneumons crawl out of the wood to grow up and make more Giant Ichneumon Wasps that hunt down more Horntail larvae.
It has no stinger. Apparently it's a real mystery how it knows how to find the Horntail Wasp's larvae. The Horntail is damaging to forests because it drills into the tree, lays it's eggs, and the larvae damage the trees. The Ichneumon Wasp comes along and pushes it's ovipositor down into the wood (they don't know how it manages to do that either) until it reaches the larva of the Horntail and then it lays an egg inside the living host. The egg feeds off the Horntail and little baby Ichneumons crawl out of the wood to grow up and make more Giant Ichneumon Wasps that hunt down more Horntail larvae.
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