HYMENOPTERA > APOCRITA | Parasitica > Ichneumonidae > Ichneumoninae > Ichneumonini

This attractive yellow and black male ichneumon was identified and verified as Eutanyacra crispatoria, but apart from one rather detailed online article I couldn’t find any general information about the species.

However, more recently, I came across a description on a French website which confirms that the females are more robust with a broadly black body, although the abdomen is black to reddish with a variable number of yellow stripes on the first tergites. The thorax is underlined with a yellow band starting from the tegulae. The eyes are lined with yellow; the antennae are black with a yellow ring and the legs are yellow with more or less blackened femurs. The males are slimmer, with a more broadly yellow appearance; legs mainly yellow and with entirely black antennae.

Interestingly, at the time of this update, I checked the NBN Atlas and found that there were only 15 records of the species with all but two coming from my local area - and none from South Wales where I photographed this particular individual.

Updated, March 25 (v.2)