ichneumon flies: good, bad, or indifferent?

Question

The large mosquito-looking ichneumon flies (I may have not spelled that properly)--are the bad in the house? Good in th house? Or, are they just a nuisance?

Answer 1

There are no flies called ichneumon, tough people often say ichneumon fly when refering to the wasp. Ichneumonids are great as they are parasitoids which are quite usefull for controlling pest populations and are commonly used in biological control of insect pests. They are an extremely diverse family (3100 known species in NA, more to be discovered) ranging in size from a few milimeters to some of the larger species which are 168 mm with the ovipositor. Adults feed manily on pollen, nectar and some also feed on insects/ insect hemolymph (blood), all and all they are quite beneficial if it is one of these guys he probably got stuck in your house, attracted to a light or was brought in with a plant (or is feeding off something in the plant!). There are just a few species which can actually sting (if you harass them), but for the most part they are harmless, if it bothers you you can simply put it outside (probably in its interrest as well), here are some pics of the general ichneumon shape http://bugguide.net/node/view/43467/bgimage.

Now since you said it resembles a large mosquito, maybe you were thinking of a crane fly (family Tipulidae) many of which resemble overgrown mosquitoes. They are the largest family of flies in N-A . They often get stuck in houses because they are attracted to lights. Adults feed on pollen if they even feed at all, and the larvae eat mainly plants, organic debris, etc. and a handfull are agricultural pests. Here's the general tipulid shape http://bugguide.net/node/view/183/bgimage?from=24 if you do have it in your home it won't do any harm but if you can hear the buzzing sound when they fly it can be annoying. Might as well shoo it outside.

Answer 2

There is an ichneumon fly and they do creep some people out who think they are a giant mosquito. I am neutral about them but they do make good fish food. When we would go bass fishing we would see if there were any flying around and go fish there because the bass were waiting for them to land on the water for a snack. Sometimes it helped us with our catch--or maybe it was all imagination that we caught more. They are harmless to people.

Answer 3

Some years back I kept a Praying Mantis as a pet, and they only eat live food! Consequently, I acquired the skill of GENTLY capturing live flies in flight, or off any surface, so that I could feed my Mantis uninjured and active prey. Most moving incident was late one night when on arrival home I found my Mantis shedding its skin. I watched, enthralled, for over an hour and I shall never forget seeing my Mantis gradually extend and spread its brand new rainbow-shimmering wings. Next day I released it onto a grapevine in my garden, the same garden in which I subsequently found a swarm of very tiny, recently hatched mantids! They are the cutest little creatures you could ever imagine.

Answer 4

Ichneumon Fly

Answer 5

Are you referring to Ichneumonid wasps? Outside, the females are parasitic - they lay their eggs inside of other living insects, usually larva (caterpiller, inchworm, etc). This is good as they can be a natural control of other insect pests.

They do not sting, but will bite. It is best not to let them inside the house, where they can be a nuisance.

I can't really think of any insects that are good to have inside the home - although very few are bad, the vast majority are a nuisance at best.