Ichneumonid Wasp

definitely ichneumonid

Hi Lauren I can't see the wing veins very clearly, but I am still pretty sure that this is an ichneumonid. The best diagnostic features for these two families are in the wing veins, but not related to the stigma. the Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichneumonidae Gives some differences in wings between ichneumonids and braconids. Unfortunately, in the two wings that were chosen the stigma appears reduced in the ichneumonid, whereas this is not always the case and the size of the stigma is not a good diagnostic character for the two families. As an example, the ichneumonid wings shown here (at the bottom of the page) have a much larger stigma than that shown on the Wikipedia page http://www.amentinst.org/GIN/morphology.php

Ichneumonidae http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichneumonidae