Robust Scarab Wasp
S1, Female, profile
Robust Scarab Wasp
S3, Male, Body
| Robust Scarab Wasp S1, Female, profile | | Robust Scarab Wasp S3, Male, Body | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera) | ||||
| Family: | Hairy Flower Wasp (Wasp: Scoliidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Robust Scarab Wasp (Pseudotrielis flavidula) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍S3, Male, profile🔎 | ||||
Thank you Joseph (CobalJoseph) for identifying and Elliott Gordon for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere Male ~18mm & female ~23mm long. These are very similar to Radumeris tasmaniensis, also found on Ellura, but these have a 3rd sub-margin cell (on their forewing) that R. tasmaniensis doesn't have. Also notice that R. tasmaniensis has a black inner margin on the forewing, different ventral pattern & a black spot on the male's face. We've been lucky enough to find a male & a female, showing how different they both are. Trisciloa sp are other Australian Scoliid wasps that also have 3 sub-marginal cells. These feed on pollen as adults, but the female lays an egg in Scarab Beetles that the young parasitises. Joseph said, of our male specimen "I arrive at flavidula using both Turner (1909) and Betrem (1928). gilesi should have the median segment black, but neither explains what segment. Betrem's key (in German) also includes leg color, not mentioned by Turner, with yellow tibiae in flavidula but black in gilesi. The keys include "median segment" which I thought must mean of the tergum, but Between Turner and Betrem's keys, there's only a full description of gilesi males. They have only a "minute spot" on the postscutellum, with no mention of any yellow on the scutellum. There's also a description of congener, whose females are almost identical to flavidula, that mentions wide yellow on sternites 2-3." Their active period then overlaps with, but slightly earlier (before summer), than Radumeris tasmaniensis. Similar Species: Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp (Radumeris tasmaniensis) : Scarab Wasp (Pseudotrielis gilesi) | |||||
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