Horse bee - Horse bee

An insect belonging to the family Braconidae in the order Hymenoptera of the Insecta class. Its Japanese name comes from the fact that its ovipositor is as long as a horse's tail. It is famous for its long ovipositor, which is around 15 centimeters, as it lays eggs on the larvae of food-eating insects that live deep inside trees. It is a parasitic wasp that parasitizes the larvae of the white-striped longhorn beetle and the carbuncle moth, and is about 2 centimeters long. Its body is yellowish brown, and its wings are also yellowish brown, but it has three blackish brown spots on its forewings and one on its hindwings, and the outer edges are dark. It is found in Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Taiwan.

[Tetsusaburo Tachikawa]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

昆虫綱膜翅(まくし)目コマユバチ科に属する昆虫。和名は、産卵管がウマのしっぽのように長いことに由来する。樹木の内部深くすんでいる食材性の昆虫の幼虫に産卵することから、産卵管は15センチメートル内外と長くなっているので有名である。シロスジカミキリやボクトウガなどの幼虫に寄生する寄生バチで、体長約2センチメートル。体は黄褐色、はねも黄褐色であるが、前ばねに3個、後ろばねに1個の黒褐色の斑紋(はんもん)があり、外縁は暗色を帯びる。本州、四国、九州、台湾に分布する。

［立川哲三郎］

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