Gnamptopelta obsidianator

Gnamptopelta obsidianator are large, long wasps. The wasps are around 30–40 millimeters.[1] The body is entirely black, except for the orange/yellow antennae. The wings are black, with a darker black border around them. The abdomen is very long, and resembles a tail.[1]

Obsidianator: Likely comes for obsidere, meaning "to besiege", "watch over", or "look out for" . The suffix "-nator" means "the one who". The literal translation from the Latin would be "the one who watches over", or besieges.[2][1]

Forest edges, open fields with flowers.[1]

Adults take nectar from flowers, and also likely drink from sap flows.[1] This seems common among Ichneumons. The wasps like to fly low over the ground, where they are identifiable by the long abdomen and orange antennae.[1] The purpose of this behavior is to facilitate prey capture. They capture caterpillars, mainly those of sphinx moths.[1] The wasps do not fly the prey back to a burrow with prey, but lay eggs on the prey itself. The eggs are laid inside the living bodies of the prey.

Like many stingless wasps, this one is a mimic. It is a mimic of the spider wasp genera Entypus and Anoplius, and the species Pepsis menechma.[1]

Most of the United States southeast, and southwest to Texas.[1]