ichneumonid wasp

not listed

NNR - Unranked

not listed

Pimpla is a genus of ichneumonid wasps with a slender, entirely black body and orange legs. There are twenty species in North America north of Mexico, but only two species have been recorded in Minnesota.

Pimpla pedalis is a medium-sized, black and orange ichneumonid wasp. It occurs throughout North America north of the 38th parallel, which extends from northern Virginia in the east to northern California in the west. Larvae are parasites of many species of moth caterpillars and sawfly larvae.

The body is slender-waisted, entirely black, and shiny.

The face is entirely black with no white markings. The antennae are not flattened. The inner margin of the compound eye is only weakly concave above the antenna base.

The rear part of the body (gaster) is cylinder-shaped but depressed above. On the female, the ovipositor is stout, straight, and somewhat tapered, and it projects conspicuously beyond the tip of the gaster.

On the hind legs, the tip of the third leg segment (femur), the fourth segment (tibia), and the last part of the leg, corresponding to the foot (tarsus), are black, but the legs are otherwise entirely orange. This feature distinguishes Pimpla pedalis from all other wasps in the genus. On the front legs the claw at the tip of the tarsus does not have a tooth-like lobe at the base. On the middle and hind legs there is a pair of thick spurs at the tip.

There is a very small cell (areolet) in the middle of the forewing.

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Location: Pennington Co. MN

Location: Pennington Co. MN