Yellow-legged Aleocharine vs Common Yellow Ichneumon

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Yellow-legged Aleocharine Common Yellow Ichneumon
Scientific Name Aleochara curtula Ichneumon stramentor
Order Coleoptera Hymenoptera
Family Staphylinidae Ichneumonidae
Size 5-8 mm 12-17 mm
Habitat Farmland Farmland
Diet Predators Parasitoids
Regions Europe, Asia Central Europe
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Yellow-legged Aleocharine

A medium-sized aleocharine rove beetle whose larvae are parasitoids of fly pupae, a rare strategy among beetles. Adults are predators at carrion and dung where they also lay eggs.

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Did You Know?

The larva enters a fly pupa, consumes the developing fly inside, and completes its own metamorphosis within the empty puparium.

Common Yellow Ichneumon

A bright yellow and black ichneumon wasp found across central Europe. It parasitizes pupae of cutworm and dart moths in agricultural areas.

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Did You Know?

Populations of this species tend to increase following outbreaks of cutworm moths, acting as a natural biological control.