Black Flower Wasp
Anterior
Black Flower Wasp
Hairy Wings
| Black Flower Wasp Anterior | | Black Flower Wasp Hairy Wings | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera) | ||||
| Family: | Flower Wasp (Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae) | ||||
| Species: | Black Flower Wasp (Lophocheilus sp ES01) | ||||
| This Photo: | Wing Venation | ||||
Thank you Dr Graham Brown for identifying this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Adelaide Hills and elsewhere ~14mm long. We would have thought it was a male based on the long antennae. But it seems to have a very short ovi-positor. Or perhaps it's a stinger. So we can't determine gender. Resembles a male Velvet Ant (Mutillidae sp), however the hairs are finer, the abdomen more rounded and the eyes larger + more elongated. Notice the very short hairs on the wings. Given the wings are effectively dead membrane (a bit like human fingernails are dead), it doesn't make sense to try and keep them warm. And it's hard to imagine them improving flight; there are no muscles to lay them down nor lift them in flight. We wonder what they are for? | |||||
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