I took these photos of a small parasitic wasp last year. After trimming some shrubs in the yard, I noticed a mantis egg case in the prunings. Out of curiosity I put it in a container to see what would hatch out. Over the next few days quite a number of parasitic wasps emerged from the egg case (but no mantids) - if any young mantis survived they must have emerged before I found it, or maybe they were all eaten by the wasp larvae. (This was no great surprise - these mantis parasitic wasps are very common around here).
In the container the wasps just looked like small black things, but up close they are a metallic green with reddish eyes. They seem to have powerful rear legs - I saw on the 'net that "at least one Podagrion sp. hitches rides with female mantids by grasping her wings with their hind legs" - this might be the explanation ...??
Mantis Parasitic Wasp - female (Podagrion sp)
Mantis Parasitic Wasp (Podagrion sp)