White-banded Chalcid Wasp
Size 7mm. Found resting on banana tree hanging over into our property. This specimen has a black overall appearance. It clearly had a silver-white back of the thorax and a very distinct white band around the front of the abdomen. Its hinds legs are massive and twisted which it certainly shares with similar looking wasps in this group. Its head is nothing I have ever seen before. Instead of nasty jaws the mouth seems to consist of two broad hairy snouts. The wasp moved and showed different aspects. It seemed to have some minor parasitic mite infestation which might explain why the individual was quite tame and did not fly away when photographed. The animal seems to show similarities to what I call Narrow-headed Chalcid wasp. However, there are big differences in anatomy, e.g. location of antennae, mouth, colouration etc.
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