# Identify a bug from a very vague description
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-bug-from-a-very-vague-description/663586
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 15, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-bug-from-a-very-vague-description/663586 "2013-07-15T19:47:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-bug-from-a-very-vague-description/663586/1 "2013-07-15T19:47:51Z")
The other day I was walking with the little Zekes and one of them started flipping out about a “yucky bug.” I went over to see - expecting a fly or moth or something - and was treated to one of the most horrifying bugs I’d ever seen.
It was about two inches long (not counting the tail), it had a black, very slender body almost like a dragon fly but much thinner. The markings suggested that it was a wasp of some sort but I don’t know.
The tail was at least as long as the body and exceptionally thin. It was curled up to it’s body.
This is in southern Manitoba, I believe the tree was an elm - but I’m no botanist. Mrs. Zeke saw two of the same bugs a day or so before, also on an elm(?) tree.
I know it’s not much to go on and I wish I’d had a camera, but alas.
Any guesses?
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-bug-from-a-very-vague-description/663586/2 "2013-07-15T19:53:28Z")
Easy.
[Ichneumon wasp.](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XpXAIDnpOSw/TlopbVHGYsI/AAAAAAAAAec/ezgTaXNxqK0/s1600/ichneumon7.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-bug-from-a-very-vague-description/663586/3 "2013-07-15T19:54:30Z")
[Pelecinid wasp?](http://www.google.com/search?q=pelecinid+wasp+canada&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=WFPkUY2NGouErQH3xYCYBw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1216&bih=868)
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### Author:  [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-bug-from-a-very-vague-description/663586/4 "2013-07-15T20:04:28Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> Easy.
> [Ichneumon wasp.](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XpXAIDnpOSw/TlopbVHGYsI/AAAAAAAAAec/ezgTaXNxqK0/s1600/ichneumon7.jpg)
Not quite, but a very close cousin I’d bet. Body is right, markings and colour are a bit off.
> [@Troppus](#):
>
> [Pelecinid wasp?](http://www.google.com/search?q=pelecinid+wasp+canada&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=WFPkUY2NGouErQH3xYCYBw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1216&bih=868)
Nope, that isn’t my icky little friend. It is icky though.
Thank-you both for your efforts so far.
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### Author:  [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-bug-from-a-very-vague-description/663586/5 "2013-07-15T20:08:00Z")
Hmmm… try an image search with “long ovipositor” and see what turns up.
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### Author:  [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-bug-from-a-very-vague-description/663586/6 "2013-07-15T20:16:06Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> Easy.
> [Ichneumon wasp.](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XpXAIDnpOSw/TlopbVHGYsI/AAAAAAAAAec/ezgTaXNxqK0/s1600/ichneumon7.jpg)
Turns out I think you were right. [Scroll down to the December 13 entry](http://sparkleberrysprings.com/v-web/b2/index.php?s=ichneumon) and there is a picture of what I’m sure is the bug - it just looks a bit different from the picture you posted.
> [@Troppus](#):
>
> Hmmm… try an image search with “long ovipositor” and see what turns up.
I did exactly that. Thank-you for the suggestion. I’ve now learned what an ovipositor is (cool word) and I found my bug.
Again, guys, seriously thank-you for your help, time and fast assistance.
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### Author:  [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-bug-from-a-very-vague-description/663586/7 "2013-07-16T00:18:28Z")
Cool. Most people are relieved to discover that’s not a huge stinger made to bore into human flesh, but what they do with it is still pretty horrific on the micro scale. They locate the hole made by a female wood beetle and insert the ovipositor to lay an egg/s onto the body of the wood beetle grub. The wasp larvae then consumes the beetle larvae. Lovely creatures, really. The beetles, I mean. Fine hosts.
ovi·pos·i·tor
noun \ˈō-və-ˌpä-zə-tər, ˌō-və-ˈ\
: a specialized organ (as of an insect) for depositing eggs —
Origin of OVIPOSITOR
New Latin, from Latin ov- + positor one that places, from ponere to place — more at position
First Known Use: 1816
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-bug-from-a-very-vague-description/663586/8 "2013-07-16T17:45:03Z")
> [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](#):
>
> one of the most horrifying bugs I’d ever seen.
Yeah, the horrible part isn’t the way they look.
> [@Troppus](#):
>
> Cool. Most people are relieved to discover that’s not a huge stinger made to bore into human flesh, but what they do with it is still pretty horrific on the micro scale. They locate the hole made by a female wood beetle and insert the ovipositor to lay an egg/s onto the body of the wood beetle grub. The wasp larvae then consumes the beetle larvae.
Stephen Jay Gould has written that the discovery of the Ichneumon wasp reproductive cycle shook Victorian faith in divine creation – here was a creature whose young devoured other creatures from within, somehow taking care to eat the vital organs last, so that the victim stayed alive (and fresh) as long as possible. As far as I know, there does not appear to be any pain relief involved in the process. How could a creator inflict that, routinely, on his/her creations? (to roughly imagine the question that kept Victorians up at night).