Ichneumon wasps, Family Ichneumonidae, includes more than 3,300 species in North America, helping to make it one of the largest insect families. Ichneumons vary widely, though they tend to have very long antennae and often long ovipositors.
Most ichneumon larvae develop on a single host and eventually kill the host, making ichneumons parasitoids, rather than parasites.
These individuals flew into our entryway on 03 18 07, closely following a few species of moths as the first insects around our home, at 2,000 feet elevation north of Port Angeles, WA.
I captured both and photographed them using an old Nikon dissecting microscope and an old Nikon Coolpix 995. In additon to the image of one wasp’s head—showing the three large ocelli (lower right)—I photographed a single forewing (note the distinctive “horsehead cell”), the forewing and hindwing, and the end of the abdomen in both specimens 1 (probably a male) | 2 (probably a female, note ovipositor or “stinger”).