Bug ID please

[spearo]

Hello everyone
Caught this little beauty with the Canon this weekend.

I've looked up as much as I can in terms of entomology pictures on the web but cant find it anywhere.

Anyone know what it is?

It was imaged at my place near Braidwood on Canberra side.

Very placid, but largish.

thanks
frank

[[1ponders]]

Its a wasp by the look of it Frank but no idea of the kind. A lovely looking insect though.

[spearo]

Ahhh
reckon?
Ill go look for piccies of Wasps
maybe i'll recognise it
i was looking mainly into bugs/beetles but you're probably right
thanks
frank

[spearo]

you have to wonder about Google images...
I type in :
"wasps in Australia Canberra"

and you should see the images it thinks are relevant....no word of a lie, try it....it shows you a guy with a fish he's caught...some utes with red Ps and even Ms Julia Gillard giving a speech.

Seriously ...:question:

frank

[[1ponders]]

Well I don't have TV or Radio, but i hear she can be a bit 'waspish' at times :lol: Oh crap political joke. oh damn obscenity :P

Ok back to the wasp. Hang on and I'll dig out some of my books

[[1ponders]]

It could be a male blue ant (Diamma Bicolor) but I've never seen one and i can't find an image of one

[ballaratdragons]

I just tried it Frank, and the first 18 pics are of wasps, then a 'P' plated one tonner, then 1 more wasp pics then a ship.
From then on it is a mix of a bloke with a fish, a sterilizer, radio telescopes, a green frog, some fireworks etc :lol:

[spearo]

Hey could it be a melaleuca-sawfly
?
frank

[spearo]

hahahah i wasn't kidding Ken:lol:
frank

[spearo]

see:
http://www.ozanimals.com/Insect/Melaleuca-Sawfly/Lophyrotoma/zonalis.html

just the color of the antennae and legs are different otherwise i reckong that's a very close match
frank

[spearo]

found it:
Perga Dorsalis
Steel-Blue sawfly (you'll need to scroll down down a bit its not the first image)
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_wasps/Sawflies.htm

and

http://www.ento.csiro.au/education/insects/hymenoptera_families/pergidae.html

identical
well, glad we sorted that one out!
Thanks Paul (and Ken);)
:lol:
frank

[ballaratdragons]

Bugger!
Ya beat me Frank!

Yep, you are right. It is a Sawfly :thumbsup:
Good detective work.

[spearo]

hahahaha
i was determined!
:lol:

[spearo]

Good to know they don't sting :thumbsup:
so I'll endeavour to take more piccies in future if I come across another one
frank

[spearo]

I added the Latin name and a link to CSIRO.
frank

[ballaratdragons]

Paul, this is a Blue Ant wasp.

They are lovely, and they really look like they are made of a shiny blue metal!
We have a few each year show up.
They have also been nick-named 'lone-ant' at times because you will only ever see them alone. Never with another of its kind.
http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/index.cfm?event=site.image.detail&id=2705

[[1ponders]]

nicely done Frank. I certainly recognise the laval stage. Nasty little buggers they are

[spearo]

Thanks
Though I read they don't sting:thumbsup::thumbsup:
seemed real placid when I photographed it too
frank

[[1ponders]]

the adults are ok apparently, I've not seen one in the flesh, but I know the grub stage well. Nasty little critters, and its not their tails that are the problem its what they spit out their mouths that is caustic and can burn. Ones not too bad but brush up against of a nest of them and you can get a nasty burn.

[spearo]

Woah!
I didn't know that!
that does sound nasty :eyepop:
frank