Can You Identify This Aquatic Insect

[Taxon]

It was captured last March while biotic sampling of Furneaux Creek in Carrollton TX.

Your challenge (if you choose to accept it) is to identify it to family level,
by its common family name, or by its taxonomic family name, or by both.

Hint: although a mature winged adult, it is only about 2 mm in body length.

PS: extra credit will be given for genus name.

 

[Zak]

Looks like a chalsid wasp, maybe Torymidae?

 

[Taxon]

Looks like a chalsid wasp, maybe Torymidae?

Hi Zak-

Yes, I too believe it to be a chalsid wasp. Rather than being of family Torymidae, I believe it to be of family Mymaridae (the misnamed Fairy Flies), and genus Polynema, which is listed as having three aquatic species in TX. However, I promised Mark Melton that I wouldn't make a practice of being right, so who knows.

 

[Mark Melton]

It's probably a chalcid wasp, but I'd be more inclined to go with Torymidae. The size fits as well as what appears to be a green iridescence on the body. Also, the antennae appear more like Torymidae than Polynema. You're probably right more often than I am, Roger.

 

[Taxon]

You're probably right more often than I am, Roger.

Kind of you to say, but don't I wish.

 

[Zak]

Question for you experts: is the distinctive long exerted ovipositor always present, or does the bug "reel it in" when not in use? I don't see the ovipositor in your photo. Or maybe this is a male and lacks an ovipositor?

 

[Mark Melton]

Most likely a male and lacks the ovipositor. That almost got me, too. There are surprisingly few images of what seem to be males.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/1977384/bgimage

Hymenoptera sp.

An online resource devoted to North American insects, spiders and their kin, offering identification, images, and information.

bugguide.net

Torymid from pink spiky Cynips gall

An online resource devoted to North American insects, spiders and their kin, offering identification, images, and information.

bugguide.net

 

[Mark Melton]

I was reading up on these small wasps lately and there are several genera that will fit, including this one.

Insidious wasp gets ahead by tunneling through host's head

Gall wasps may feel confident as they infest oak trees for shelter and sustenance, but their wasp enemy has an even more insidious agenda, according to Rice University scientists.

phys.org

Description of a new species of Euderus Haliday from the southeastern United States (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Eulophidae): the crypt-keeper wasp

A new species of the genus Euderus Haliday, Euderus set sp. n., is described and illustrated from the southeastern United States, where it parasitizes the crypt gall wasp, Bassettia pallida Ashmead, 1896, on live oaks in the genus Quercus (subsection Virentes). This is the 1st species of the...

zookeys.pensoft.net

Tales from the crypt: a parasitoid manipulates the behaviour of its parasite host | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

There are many examples of apparent manipulation of host phenotype by parasites, yet few examples of hypermanipulation—where a phenotype-manipulating parasite is itself manipulated by a parasite. Moreover, few studies confirm manipulation is occurring by ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

 

[Taxon]

Hi Mark-

Of the 3 links you provided, in my opinion only the 3rd comes reasonably close to matching my image. However, I believe that its antennae are wrongly shaped. Does that make any sense?

 

[Mark Melton]

Yeah, it's the only picture of a live or recently dead wasp in the series of pictures that shows what it really looks like in life. I wondered about the antennae but in your picture there's not enough detail to be sure. Do you still have the wasp or access to it to double check?

 

[Taxon]

Do you still have the wasp or access to it to double check?

Unfortunately, I do not. Best I can do is my image horizontally flipped in order to facilitate comparison.

 

[Taxon]

In as much as the image was collected from a creek, I assumed it was an aquatic (as opposed to terrestrial} wasp, and consulted this website.

 

[Mark Melton]

Being as there are thousands of species of these small wasps, I don't think there's much chance of getting an ID without an expert. It's been fun trying though. On a side note there are lots of them flying around at a friends place, you can hardly sit down without several landing on you. He has a lot of oaks on the property and I assume there are a lot of gall makers and parasites.

 

[Matt B]

Being as there are thousands of species of these small wasps, I don't think there's much chance of getting an ID without an expert. It's been fun trying though. On a side note there are lots of them flying around at a friends place, you can hardly sit down without several landing on you. He has a lot of oaks on the property and I assume there are a lot of gall makers and parasites.

I’m just glad that, as far as I know anyway, my chances are fairly small of being parasitized by a wasp that will make me dig a hole out of my bedroom, cause me to plug the hole with my head and die, all so the parasite can consume my body and then exit my bedroom once it has fully metamorphosed.
So I got that going for me, which is nice.

 

[Zak]

On a lake there were many leetle beetles struggling in the water. A tiny muddler brought a few fish to hand. I'd love to know the name of this bug:

 

[Kilchis]

Some species of click beetle maybe?

 

[Taxon]

On a lake there were many leetle beetles struggling in the water. A tiny muddler brought a few fish to hand. I'd love to know the name of this bug:

Hi Zak-

When one changes the subject, it is best to start a new thread.

 

[Zak]

No love for thread drift?

 

[fkajwg]

I did not know any wasps were aquatic.
J

 

[Taxon]

No love for thread drift?

Nicely fixed; thanks.