Spider-like wasp (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in Värmland, Sweden. If anyone knows this species let me know.
This was flicking its wings periodically as do most spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) - BUT this is not a spider wasp but rather in the Ichnuemonidae. The spider wasps, notibly the trantula killer of Arizona, are often dark metalic blue and sting spiders and/or grasshoppers which paralyzes them and then drag them to holes. The living, but paralyzed prey, are then eaten by larvae of the wasps. I thought this was a spider wasp but Harold from Canada wrote me an email saying:
"Typically any wasp with more than 12 flagammeres (antenna segments) are Ichneumonidae. I can count 12 from the picture and guess that there are about 20 by the tip. Ichneumonidae tend to lay their eggs on their prey withxout a lasting paralysis so that the host can go about its usual business while the larva eats it." - Harold

---

Images © 1996 by John A. Byers, Chemical Ecology.