Small Zebra Spider Wasp
S5, Male, Antenna
Ellura
Tiny Zebra Spider Wasp
Female, dorsal, wings closed
 
                      
Tiny Zebra Spider Wasp (Turneromyia bassiana)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera)
Family: Zebra Spider Wasp (Wasp: Pompilidae: Pompilinae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Tiny Zebra Spider Wasp (Turneromyia bassiana)
This Photo:     🔍Female, dorsal, wings open🔎

Thank you Dr Paul Whitington & Kerri-Lee Harris for identifying and Sam Gordon for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~10mm long Female.
Paul said "Kerri-Lee and I have gone through the Evans (1984) key together. The path leading to bassiana diverges from semiluctuosa at
  • step 1 - fore basitarsus with 3 vs 4-7 pecten spines ... while it's out of focus, we're pretty sure there are only 3 spines there
  • step 2 - head and pronotum with or without orange pubescence. Clearly not orange pubescence, so go to
  • step 3 - abdomen without pale pubescence vs. with prominent apical bands of pale pubescence. Pretty clear that the latter applies, so go to
  • step 4 - second and third submarginal cells or forewing similar in size or shape and marginal cell removed from wingtip by at least 1.5x its own length vs. third cell much more strongly narrowed than second and marginal cell separated from wingtip by no more than 1.2x its own length. Latter options look pretty clear, so got to
  • step 5 - last segment of hind tarsus not spine beneath and propodeum with smooth contours vs. 2-4 strong spines beneath last segment of hind tarsus and propodeum strongly produced laterally. Former combination favoured so go to
  • step 6 - vertex narrow passing nearly straight across tops of eyes vs. vertex broader, arched above eye tops. Latter option favoured, so go to
  • step 7 - vertex broad, strongly arched above tops of eyes vs. vertex less broad, less strongly arched above eye tops. A bit subjective, but we favour the latter option, leading to
  • step 8 - front, mesopleura and propodeum with dense, dark hair and femora moderately hairy vs. front less densely hairy, some of the hairs pale and mesopleura and propodeum with moderately abundant, pale hair and femora weakly if at all hairy. We favour the latter option, which leads to species T. bassiana.
The description of female T. bassiana lends further support to this ID. Location fits. T1-5 with narrow apical bands which are emarginate medially; wings moderately fumose, darker in a narrow apical band."

Similar Species: Small Zebra Spider Wasp (Ctenostegus sp)

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.