Rhyssa persuasoria


Rhyssa persuasoria, the giant ichneumon, is a species belonging to the family Ichneumonidae subfamily Rhyssinae.
It is found in most of Europe, in North America, in the Australasian realm, in the Near East, in the Nearctic realm, in North Africa, and in the Indomalayan realm.
Rhyssa persuasoria is one of the largest ichneumon wasps in Europe. The length of adults varies from about in males up to in the females, plus about of the ovipositor. They have a thin black body, several whitish spots on the head, thorax, and abdomen and reddish legs. The antennae are long and thin. Females have a long ovipositor, which they use when laying eggs.
They can mainly be encountered from July through August, especially in paths and clearings of coniferous forests.
Female of this parasitic species drills deep into wood by its hair thin ovipositor and lays its eggs on larvae living in timber, which become a food supply and an incubator for the progeny, until it is fully grown. Larvae overwinter in the wood, pupating the next spring and emerging from the wood as adults.
Main hosts of Rhyssa persuasoria are the larvae of Horntail or Wood Wasps, as well as larvae of Longhorn Beetle and Great Capricorn Beetle.

Subspecies