Bug FAQAmerican Pelecinid Wasp
Pelecinus polyturator · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Pelecinidae
Also called: Black Pelecinid Wasp, Pelecinid Wasp
The American Pelecinid Wasp is a large, glossy black insect up to 7 cm long that lives in fields, woods and gardens across the Americas. Adults sip nectar while females lay eggs inside June beetle grubs in the soil; some females reproduce without males.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
They have long antennae and females possess an elongated, cylindrical metasoma.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
They can grow up to about 7 cm in length and are glossy black.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They are found in crop fields, woods and suburban gardens.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults feed on nectar. Females lay eggs inside June beetle (Phyllophaga) grubs in the soil.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Some populations reproduce parthenogenetically, so females do not need males to lay eggs.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are typically seen in late summer.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Their range includes North, Central and South America.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 41 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Minnesota, Ohio, New York, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Maine, Vermont.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelecinus_polyturator
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.