Orange-striped Potter Wasp
S4, Female, Eye
Ellura
Orange-striped Potter Wasp
S4, Female, Reddish Legs
 
                      
Orange-striped Potter Wasp (Acarodynerus sp)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera)
Family: Potter Wasp (Wasp: Vespidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Orange-striped Potter Wasp (Acarodynerus sp)
This Photo:     🔍S4, Female, Antenna🔎

Thank you Marco Selis & Brian Dagley for identifying this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~13mm - 14mm long
Our 1st specimen was found dead & desicated outside.
We thought this was a paralastor wasp, but the wing venation doesn't much (ie the 2nd sub-marginal cell isn't petiolate)
Colour wise this is similar to Pseudalastor concolor, as linked to by Brian. Milo van Loon indicated the Pseudalastor genera have toothed mid-femurs. After inspection of the original photo's we found this specimen is free of toothed mid-femurs.
We've since captured 3 more live ones. Our 4th, shown here, is a female (as it has 10 flagellomeres). As can be seen her length is variable as the abdomen can constrict considerably. The size of the red spot on the face varies a bit between specimens, being tiny here. While not clearly seen, the inside legs have a pale reddish stripe.
A couple of shots of S4 are quite yellow. This isn't real, it's orange; a camera artifact from overexposure.

Similar Species: Mud-nesting Wasp (Paralastor sp ES01) : Yellow-faced Potter Wasp (Diemodynerus cf decipiens ssp decipiens)

Copyright © 2023-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 04-Mar-2023
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.