Does this wasp have a parasite?

[dashman]

I have never seen this before. Does anyone know what is under this wasps abdomen sections?

<a href="http://img140.imageshack.us/i/waspwithparasite.jpg/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/5492/waspwithparasite.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a><br /><br />

 

[Wolfn]

I think I've seen that before, but I'm not sure what happened.

 

[dashman]

It's freaky looking and gives me the willies for some reason.

If I see it again, I think I am going to try to catch it and see what those things are. I am almost certain they are parasites but haven't found much info for wasp parasites on the web.

 

[Presto]

they are called twisted wing parasites. Order Strepsiptera.

Ta-da: http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=strepsiptera&search=Search

 

[dashman]

Cool. Apparently this is a fairly rare and uncommon parasite that not too much is known about it. But this is an older link.

From : http://bugguide.net/node/view/158410#211216

Please collect it, if you find it again and you are not opposed to killing and preserving insects for scientific research. Strepsiptera are relatively uncommon and I'm sure Strepsiptera researchers would definitely appreciate the specimen. If you do collect it, throw it in a container in the fridge and let me know.

 

[Presto]

It's definitely the sort of thing that I would've killed for about this time last year, when I was putting together my collection for insect taxonomy! (I'm working on my Master's degree in entomology....for one of my classes we had to collect and identify specimens from 130 different families, over something like 22 orders.) If you're into that kind of thing, might be worth keeping!

 

[dashman]

If you want it, I will gladly send it to you. Provided I see it again and can catch it.

 

[Presto]

nah, that's okay.. I'm all done with the class.. and i already have more specimens than i know what to do with! thank you for the offer though!

 

[dashman]

Do you think I should catch it and send it to someone or is there no interest in them?

Also, can you tell if this is this a male or female?

 

[Presto]

I have absolutely no clue on the gender!

If you can manage to catch the wasp without it stinging you, or damaging your plants, someone might be interested in it for sake of natural history. (i.e., one day they can look back and say that this species was present in this location at this point in time.) But otherwise, probably not much interest in it.