HYMENOPTERA > APOCRITA | Parasitica > Ichneumonidae > Campopleginae

Campopleginae is one of our largest subfamilies with around 340 recognised species in 37 genera.

They are generally described as small, slender insects with a laterally compressed, petiolate first metasomal segment and dull black mesosoma. Identification to subfamily is normally as good as it gets from photos, although occasionally a genus might be suggested as was the case with the first individual featured below - a female with a very short upturned ovipositor that could possibly be Casinaria mesozosta.

The other individual from that location, photographed three years earlier, is also a female and looks very similar, but appears to have longer temples. It could be the angle it was photographed.

Diadegma is a large genus of over 60 species. They are the most frequently recorded species, especially Diadegma latungulum and Diadegma crassicorne, but there are also confirmed records for the genus where the actual species is not confirmed. I don't think they'd be recorded as such if they've been collected and examined and, therefore, I guess that the genus could possibly be identified from photos. Although there are a number of online articles about the members of the genus that parasite the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, which as far as I'm aware is a migrant, rather than a native species, I can't find any other information at the moment that could prove useful from a photographer's perspective.

All of the members of this subfamily are koinobiont endoparasitoids primarily associated with Lepidoptera larvae, although a few species use certain Coleoptera hosts.

Updated, March 25 (v.3)