Myzinum spp. Latreille

(Insecta: Hymenoptera: Tiphiidae)

Myzinum spp. are effective ectoparasitoids of soil-dwelling beetle larvae, particularly white grubs (Phyllophaga spp.).

Adults are medium sized-wasps with females 11 to 18 mm long and males 8 to 16 mm long. Head and body show alternating black and yellow bands, legs are reddish brown, and wings are tawny yellow. Males have a characteristic upcurved hook at the tip of their abdomen. Eggs are flesh colored, and larvae are white.

Adult wasps are pollinators and attracted to flowers, and males swarm around bushes. Females explore burrows and tunnels in the soil, and once they find a grub, they deposit eggs onto the grub’s abdomen. Hatching larvae feed externally on the grub, and by the end of their development they completely consume it. Eventually, they spin a cocoon within the subterranean grub cell and overwinter. Wasps emerge in the following spring.

Seven species of Myzinum are commonly found in Florida.

Images 

To save the Web-optimized images shown below to your hard drive:

PC users: right click to "Save Picture (or Image) As..."

Mac users: click and drag to your desktop.

Adult female of Myzinum sp. Latreille

(Photographer: Lyle Buss, University of Florida)