Half-mourning Zebra Spider Wasp
S2, Female, Wing Venation		Ellura
Half-mourning Zebra Spider Wasp
S2, Female, Front Leg Spines		 
                      
Half-mourning Zebra Spider Wasp (Turneromyia semiluctuosa)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera)
Family: Zebra Spider Wasp (Wasp: Pompilidae: Pompilinae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Half-mourning Zebra Spider Wasp (Turneromyia semiluctuosa)
This Photo:     🔍S2, Female, Antenna🔎
Thank you Tony Daley & Dr Paul Whitington for identifying and Karen Weaving for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
1st Live Photo on-line:
Female ~23mm long.
Paul said "I've worked through the Evans (1984) key for Turneromyia and I agree with Tony that this one is T. semiluctuosa. Here are the steps:
  • Step 1. Fore basitarsus with 4-7 pecten spines (6-7 present here) - go to step 12.
  • Step 12. With silvery grey pubescence of standard pattern, including much of head, bands or spots on thoracic dorsum and pleura and on propodeum, transverse bands on apices of several abdominal segments, legs streaked with pale; wings moderately fumose, darker along margins vs. without pale pubescence in standard pattern - go to step 13.
  • Step 13. fore basitarus with 6-7 pecten spines vs. 4-5 spines gives ID of T. semiluctuosa.
The description of the female of that species is in accord with that ID. Here are some of the characters:
  • forewing length varies from 12.5 to 17mm;
  • either 6 or 7 pecten spines on fore basitarsus;
  • clypeus with a dark median streak;
  • T1-5 with broad apical bands and venter similarly banded;
  • clypeus 2.6x as wide as high (a bit wider than that);
  • vertex barely elevated above eye tops;
  • marginal cell removed from wingtip by 0.9x its own length.
Distribution fits - records in inland western Victoria along Murray River."

Similar Species: Pale Zebra Spider Wasp (Turneromyia melancholicus)
Copyright © 2023-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 03-Apr-2023
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.