Mantis Parasitic Wasp

[ozwildlife]

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)

[goosey]

Great images! Until you see the ones in the pot, you dont appreciate how tiny the wasps are. I would have thought that some mantis hatched and survived or they would have died out years ago and so would have the wasps of course. I wonder what the ratio's of survival actually are?
The wasps are very attractive with their metalic sheen. Thicko question coming up - Do you know why they have such disproportionately large tails?

[ozwildlife]

Originally Posted by goosey

Great images! Until you see the ones in the pot, you dont appreciate how tiny the wasps are. I would have thought that some mantis hatched and survived or they would have died out years ago and so would have the wasps of course. I wonder what the ratio's of survival actually are?
The wasps are very attractive with their metalic sheen. Thicko question coming up - Do you know why they have such disproportionately large tails?

I'm not sure what survival ratio would be, but you are right - a lot of mantis do survive. I have watched three egg cases in containers over the last year or so - one had all mantis emerge, another had mostly wasps and a few mantis, and this is the only one that had no mantis emerge. However I've no idea what emerged before I collected the egg cases or after I put them back in the garden.

I'd say the females have such a long ovipositor so they can poke deeper into the foam egg case of the mantis to lay their eggs. When you look at the second photo, the mantis egg case is huge compared to the size of the wasp.