Orange Caterpillar Parasite Wasp - Netelia producta

Family ICHNEUMONIDAE

This page contains pictures and information about Orange Caterpillar Parasite Wasps that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.


Body length 20mm

This wasp is Reddish orange in colour, female will give a painful sting. Their hosts are those large size caterpillars.



Pictures taken when the wasp resting on a Banksia tree leaf in Alexandra Hill during late summer.





When attacking its host, the female wasp temporarily paralyses the caterpillar by stinging it. After the host paralysed, the wasp a brown egg onto the skin near the head of the caterpillar. These eggs can be seen if carefully visual check the caterpillars..

The wasp larva hatches from the egg and develops externally, hanging on the head of the caterpillar. The wasp larva will not complete its larval development until the caterpillar has tunnelled into the soil and formed its pupation chamber. After the host forms its chamber, the wasp larva will feed and kill the host, spin a black furry cocoon within this chamber.

Reference and Link:
1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 943.
2. An introduction to the Ichneumonidae of Australia - Gauld, I.D. 1984, British Museum.
3. Parasitoids: Natural enemies of helicoverpa - Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Queensland, 2005