He wandered in through an open door. Tiny - the body is no more than 1 cm long. Black body, very thin white stripes, and both feelers and back legs are partly white.
lythande1,
Mar 30, 8:22pm
One of the paper wasps.
cosimo,
Mar 30, 8:27pm
Can you tell me which one? It doesn't match any of the photos I found on google.
wasgonna,
Mar 30, 10:11pm
Haven't seen one with thin white stripes only the usual yellow. Hate em!
schnauzer11,
Mar 31, 12:09am
Ichneumon wasp? (sp?)
cosimo,
Mar 31, 12:26am
thanks very much, schnauzer - seeing the descriptions and photos, I am sure you are right - and with over 1000 species in NZ, I guess that's as close as I will get to naming it. I just hope, if it's the wasp that has been killing my monarch caterpillars, there aren't any of them more around.
denise77,
Mar 31, 12:27am
Looks like this one, but not terribly clear sorry.
My word - how clever you guys are. I reckon that's spot on denise - a chocolate frog to you and schnauzer for getting a result.
ICHNEUMONIDAE: Cryptinae: Glabridorsum Townes is it - unless it has a look-alike. Even the size is right.
junie2,
Mar 31, 12:49am
They're the good guys aren't they?
cosimo,
Mar 31, 1:02am
Well yes, they were imported to control a fruit fly. So I guess they probably don't like monarch caterpillars much. Wish I hadn't killed it now.
cantabman1,
Mar 31, 2:01pm
It is the German and common wasp [ both yellow] who are the evil doers.
coop19,
Mar 31, 3:23pm
Another insect to watch at the moment with the Monarch butterflies hatching is the South African Praying Mantis which seems to have evicted the old variety in this area. To my little G/daughters horror we have caught two recently, in the act of devouring the emerging butterflies. Both were really fat female Mantis who were dispatched forthwith - also to the shock & Horror of dear G/d.
gilligee,
Apr 1, 1:01am
Well they cleaned up our caterpillars!
woody89,
Apr 1, 2:34am
Have always known them to predate the Monarch family.
cosimo,
Apr 1, 2:31pm
My very healthy swan plant bush has 5 fat caterpillars (plus another couple of smaller ones) - probably only days from starting their metamorphosis. I will keep an eye out for praying mantis - and any more Ichneumon wasps Just in case woody is correct.
I don't know where this swan plant came from - it just emerged a few months ago - there seems to be a shortage around my suburb so I guess I had better save some seeds in due course.
rainrain1,
Apr 1, 11:14pm
And what kind of wasp is this one, it is tiny and thin, although it doesn't look it in the pic
Monarch caterpillars are ice cream to them, They just suck them dry and drop the skin. The way to get round it is to netting shroud your plants once you have enough eggs (checking first for mantises), and then open the top to release butterflies later. It's an effort, but the only way to stop these imported menaces wiping out populations the way they've wiped out our little native mantis. Squish their egg cases when you see them too, under eaves and weatherboards, even behind curtains. Beastly things.
that's it, the horrid thing. there has been a lot about,
family007,
Apr 2, 4:44am
I had one of these wasps at my place. They're actually known as a Mason Bee. Harmless, solitary insect.
rainrain1,
Feb 16, 1:49am
No, It's not a mason bee, it's too waspish to be a bee
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