Chalcidoid wasp

Found this little wasp on my back door after I'd just opened it and closed it. About 6mm long. Think it's one of the most beautiful bugs I've photographed.
Brian V.

Crop

Wow very cool, never seen one quite like it, although I have noticed a swarm of really big black hornets around my deck :P

Nice shots

is that it's stinger? If so, that's one MEAN looking bee! Bugs are quite amazing and you found a good subject! Well done!

It may be the stinger, but I think it is also used to lay it's eggs. Certain bees can find worm eggs in fruit, they use this "rod" to peirce the fruit and lay an egg into the sac of the worm, when the baby wasp emerges it eats the worm and then burrows out of the fruit.

EDIT: Found this:

Chalcid wasps (superfamily Chalcidoidea) belong to the insect order Hymenoptera, and are one of the largest groups within the order, with some 22,000 known species, and an estimated total diversity of anywhere from 60,000 to more than 500,000 species, meaning the vast majority have yet to be discovered and described.
Most of the species are parasitoids of other insects, attacking the egg or larval stage of their host, though many other life cycles are known. These hosts are to be found in at least 12 different insect orders including Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Diptera (true flies), Coleoptera (beetles), Hemiptera (true bugs), and other Hymenoptera, as well as two orders of Arachnida, and even one family of nematodes.

A few species are phytophagous and the larvae feed inside seeds, stems, and galls. Generally beneficial to humans as a group, chalcids keep various crop pests under control, and many species have been imported to control insect pests.
They can be found almost everywhere, particularly on flowers, foliage, and in leaf litter, but are often overlooked due to their very small size, which includes the smallest of all known insects (see Dicopomorpha echmepterygis).

Chalcids are tiny, dark-coloured wasps, often metallic blue or green with complex sculpturing on the body. They are also recognized by the characteristic reduced wing venation, similar to that seen in other superfamilies of parasitic wasps. They have a significant part to play in ecosystems and their true importance must not be underestimated.

LINK: http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/Chalcidoidea

Very good catched with great details...

Wow, superb detail. I really like hte 2nd shot, I'm drooling over catching a shot like this!!! Job well done.

Dave

Fantastic pics!! I like how the white door reflects the light back onto the bug.

Great shots, love the eye on this wasp.

On a side note, how do you tell the difference between a wasp, hornet or a bee. Or those that mimic for that matter.

Some of the beasts I see out here in So Calif are wasps, where if I saw it in UK it would be called a Hornet!

Thanks for the comments all
exSnowdrop not always easy to differentiate between some bug families and others. As far as I'm concerned hornets are just large wasps but think the terms are interchangeable in some countries. As far as bees and wasps are concerned, bees tend not too have such a narrow waist, are hairier and not as aggressive as wasps. The ultimate difference being a bee dies if it stings you but a wasp does not (don't advise trying this ). Some Hoverflies look remarkably like bees but tend to have larger rounder eyes and some bees look remarkably like wasps (Nomada bees) - I've mistakenly ID'd these.
Brian V.

Great shots Brian.

great shots Brian...the detail in #2 is amazing

What an interesting engineering job nature has done on this one. Great shots!

Thanks Lester- think it was more of a case of great bug
Brian V.

Thanks Alan- had quite a lot of difficulty with the shots getting the angles- the door kept on getting in the way
Brian V.

Thanks Sayer
Agree- the whole family are amazing bugs but most are only 1-3mm long so a bit hard to spot.
Brian V.