A Very Strange Bug....I Have Never Seen Before...What Is It?

[Kathleen Anne]

I realize there is not really a category for this on Treasurenet.com, but can anyone tell me what this very strange bug is that I found on my car this evening? At first I thought it was a grasshopper, but then realized it wasn't. It doesn't look like any mosquito I have ever seen. It was on my car door for a very long time and then it was gone. I live in Washington State in the Puget Sound region.

 

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[Kathleen Anne]

I am going to answer my own question because I think I just figured out that maybe it is a butterfly hatching from its cocoon? Or other similar flying insect...moth, dragonfly? Still not positive though, hoping someone will know.

 

[maxpower]

spider wasp

 

[john845]

my first thought some sort of wasp

 

[diggummup]

Although I don't see a stinger, it kind of looks like some type of freshly hatched wasp. Maybe one of these? https://www.insectidentification.or...sp?identification=Short-Tailed-Ichneumon-Wasp

 

[s2ndjetli]

AHHH yes the Phantom Crane Fly.. or BlueCrane.. MANY related species.. they dont really bother ya..

 

[rastinirv]

There is also a very cool app you can get from iNaturalist.org. you can upload photos and lots of folks will chime in with IDs. But it's more than that because they use the data for research purposes. The also ID plants.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I think what you have is an Ichneumon wasp, but missing it's "stinger".


Giant Ichneumon Wasps ? North American Insects & Spiders

 

[A2coins]

cool find

 

[HuntinDog]

We always called them Mosquito Hawks.
Don't think they had anything to do with mosquitos, just their looks and the size of a hawk.

 

[against the wind]

Wow, you're bugging out,,

 

[Hawks88]

Whatever it is I don’t like it.

 

[Slowtaknow]

I was going to say asian death wasp but i was really about to talk out my ass.

 

[diggummup]

I think what you have is an Ichneumon wasp, but missing it's "stinger".


Giant Ichneumon Wasps ? North American Insects & Spiders

That's what I couldn't figure out, it's the lack of a stinger that's throwing me off.. I deleted my original post from about 7:00 this morning and posted the link to the short tailed one later. It resembles the long tailed one in markings and color more so than the short tailed one. From what I've read, the "stinger is only used for laying eggs and not for stinging. I tried finding freshly hatched ones but I couldn't find any photos that resembled hers without a stinger. I do think it's a freshly hatched one or the other, long or short tailed.

 

[diggummup]

Large, Brown, Crane-fly-like Ichneumon Wasps | The Backyard Arthropod Project

 

[BIGSCOTT]

Those things started showing up last month after that meteor shower
there is a video on youtube of about 12 of them dancing in unison.

 

[Tony in SC]

I saw one on my mailbox right after I saw your post, 'weird'

 

[andygold]

I agree with Charlie P. And Diggummup. Looks like either a Wood Wasp (Giant Ichneumon), or maybe a Parasitic Wasp, but I'm leaning towards the former more than the latter. Each type has many different looks, and colors.



Wood Wasps that I'm familiar with usually have what looks like a stinger that's about 2 to 3 inches long. It's actually not a stinger, but an ovipositor, (egg laying tube), that they use to lay their eggs deep inside these perfectly round holes they chew into trees. The trees look like someone took a 1/8" drill to them.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Even cooler - they probe deep into wood and lay the egg on a beetle grub. Then the wasp larva eat the beetle grub.

Very beneficial wasps (most are - except the damn yellow jackets/ground wasps) because they eat other insects.

 

[diggummup]

They are aliens from another planet. Most bugs are, lol. At least they look like they should be!