This colorful ichneumon wasp is approximately 5/8 inch in length. The head is bright yellow. The thorax is black with yellow markings. The long, cylindrical abdomen is black with 3 yellow bands and yellow on the tip. The antennae are long and black with dull, brown tips. The wings are clear with black veins and black at the tips. The legs are long and bright yellow. The definitive characteristic separating this from a similar genus, Arotes, is that Spilopteron lacks an “accessory” barb on the claws of the hind tarsus. This genus was identified from the images shown here by volunteer experts at BugGuide.
This is a rare wasp. It has been seen in Fontenelle Forest once in mid-July.
This Spilopteron wasp is in the subfamily Acaenitinae. Little is known about this subfamily, but the hosts are believed to be beetle larvae in wood. There are 4 North American species in this genus.
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