Yellow-faced Black Sand Wasp
Male, Pseudo-stinger
Silver-faced Black Sand Wasp
S1, Female: profile
| Yellow-faced Black Sand Wasp Male, Pseudo-stinger | | Silver-faced Black Sand Wasp S1, Female: profile | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera) | ||||
| Family: | Square-headed Wasp (Wasp: Crabronidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Silver-faced Black Sand Wasp (Bembix sp ES09) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍S1, Female: dorsal🔎 | ||||
Thank you Kerri-Lee Harris for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere ~16mm long. It is possible (but we think unlikely) this is the same species as the Yellow-faced one above, as that was a male, and this was a female. Black bembix seem to be pretty rare. But we also have the Panda Wasp which is pretty black. Perhaps we are noticing them more now. Notice the difference between the male & female, within one genus. He has the big keel under his abdomen, she doesn't. He as 11 antennal flagellomeres, she has 10. She has slightly longer, and more plentiful, spines on her front legs for digging sand. Unusually here the labrium is in front of the Mandibles, rather than tucked up under like normal. | |||||
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