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Marin, California


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#1 Offline Sassysquatch - Posted April 5 2017 - 5:40 PM

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Whil walking into my friends house i noticed this small black and red [what i thought at the time to be an] Ant. After taking some pics and posting to the chat room we've formulated the current theory that mayhaps it's some kind of ground wasp? (based on antennae) but this doesnt seem to quite match up with other group wasps i've seen/read about. For instance i posted a spider hunting wasp which often lives in the ground and it still had wings[ It was also larger and had longer curled antennae] Any help as to what this could be would be greatly appreciated. I'll be posting some higher quality images when i get home. Pardon the terrible terrible quality. the uploader doesnt seem to want me to post more then two pics anyways so heres a puush link that should take you too the 3rd picture WELP APPARENTLY THE UPLOADER FOR PHOTOS JUST didn't WORK AT ALL AND THE PUUSH LINK I POSTED JUST GETS EMBEDDED SO 

 


Edited by Sassysquatch, April 5 2017 - 5:41 PM.

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#2 Offline Sassysquatch - Posted April 5 2017 - 5:46 PM

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Whoops i almost forgot the important stuff Body:

1. Location of collection (ie: park/area, city/town, state/province, country). You can be more specific here than in the title, but please include the information in the title here as well.
Marin, California.

2. Date of collection (more important for ID's of queens).
4/5/17
3. Habitat of collection (ie: desert scrub, oak forest, riparian, etc.).
Pavement
4. Length (to the nearest millimeter or 1/16th of an inch.) Millimeters is preferred. Length is measured from the tip of the head to the tip of the gaster, excluding antennae, legs and stingers. Do not estimate, use a ruler! No matter how good you think you are at guessing the length of something, it's amazing how far off you can be sometimes.
from head to tip .5-.6 cm
5. Coloration, hue, pattern and texture (ie: dark redish-orange head, velvet-like gaster, translucent, hairy/bald, shiny/dull, etc.). Be as specific as possible, and you can use the diagram below if you need it.
A reddish brown body capped off with a black head and gastur
6. Distinguishing characteristics (ie: one petiole node/two petiole nodes, length and orientation of any spines or bumps on the thorax or waist, head shape, eye size, shape of mandibles, number of antennal segments, etc.)
Long curling antennae
7. Anything else distinctive (ie: odor, behavior, characteristics relative to others in the colony, etc.).
possibly injured one leg on it's left side seems to either be none functioning or just uncooperative 



#3 Offline gcsnelling - Posted April 5 2017 - 6:15 PM

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Ichnuemonid  wasp.



#4 Offline Sassysquatch - Posted April 5 2017 - 6:23 PM

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Ichnuemonid  wasp.

Idk based on what i've seen around the net of the Ichnuemonid Wasp. the back end doesnt seem to be long enough. and there's still the issue of no wings. I'm not to sure on how big the Ichn. Wasp gets but what i have seems quite small compared to that kind of wasp. Could it possibly be a different species of wasp?



#5 Offline Works4TheGood - Posted April 5 2017 - 6:57 PM

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The long, arcing antennae tells us that it's not a female ant (worker or queen). The huge eyes suggest good eyesight, which is pretty rare among ants in general. So, I vote wasp.

Edited by Works4TheGood, April 5 2017 - 6:58 PM.

~Dan

#6 Offline T.C. - Posted April 5 2017 - 7:05 PM

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What you have here I believe to be a gelis wasp, a parasitic, species I thought. The thing coming off the back that resembles to some a "stinger" is actually a ovipositor, which is used for laying eggs.
“If I am killed for simply living, let death be kinder than man.” -Althea Davis

#7 Offline Alabama Anter - Posted April 5 2017 - 7:07 PM

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What you have here I believe to be a gelis wasp, a parasitic, species I thought. The thing coming off the back that resembles to some a "stinger" is actually a ovipositor, which is used for laying eggs.

Yep. This makes me to believe that is a species of gore wasp. Gore wasps are wasps that inject their eggs into acorns, fruits, stems, etc... (they are those weird lumps)


YJK


#8 Offline Nathant2131 - Posted April 6 2017 - 2:53 AM

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Straight antenna=wasp.

#9 Offline gcsnelling - Posted April 6 2017 - 2:19 PM

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I concur, Gelis. However for the record there are Ichnuemonids which are wingless.






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