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Talkback: Pimpla hypochondriaca

Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
in Talkback
I saw one of these the other day just outside my doctors in barrow cumbria, i got the shock of my life it looked so scarey! red legs and a long sting, anyway thats how ive come to be searching it, I didnt know the name of it,i just searched insect with long sting red legs, when i saw it fly towards us and land on a window i thought it looked terrifying, i grabbed my little girl and ran off !! "saying thats not from round here"!!
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  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I found one of these this year and last year in my garden. I also found (last year) a parasitised?
    large white caterpillar having climbed up my window with the maggots of the Ichneumon wasp emerging. unpleasant it may be but live and let live is my motto we need all the wildlife we can get. The great lack of butterflies this year can be blamed on the weather, and not on this wasp it can help itself to one or two caterpillars. I find insects quite fascinating.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Am I the only one here who think these wee beasties are the most amazing creatures? They may have some horrible habits which seem like something from a scary science fiction film but they are very impressive to look at.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    We live in Normandy, France and my husband found an insect just like this, Pimpla hypochondriaca,inside his slipper! I think his big toe knocked off a wing and the poor thing couldn't fly away, but it gave us the chance to get a closer look. A little scary but harmless I believe? We put it back outside hoping it could grow another wing, would it?

    SC
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I usually don’t post on Blogs but ya forced me to, great info.. excellent! … I'll add a backlink and bookmark your site.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    there nasty looking things
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    found 2 inside window like everbody else catious at first but love the way it grooms itself.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Hey everybody I have just seen a Pimpla Hypochondriaca in Chorlton Manchester, I feel like I belong to a special club! After staring at it in amazement from the other side of my living room window, I immediately got online to try and find out what it was. Frustratingly no one seems to know for sure if they sting so I'll be keeping my distance!!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I could be wrong but if its the same one as the one i identified tonight and the same one i found when i was a young teenager im fairly sure it can sting. I was moving logs when one got caught between my fingers and then a sting and pain from the top of my finger. An oval water type blister about 15mm long swelled up for a couple of days. The strange thing was the swelling and blister came back around the same time of year in exactly the same spot for the next three years. I still have a small scar.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Reply to Nigel Williams and Taran
    There is only one way to find out. In the spirit of scientific endeavor, I shall pick up the next one I see, and let you know the level of pain.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    It stung me the other day and it hurt but not as bad as a normal wasp or bee. I stepped on it barefoot and it got between two toes. I treated it like any other sting w/ meat tenderizer and felt fine a few hours later. We could never find the stinger in my foot and the parasitic wasp was still alive a day after (he was in my bathroom).
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