- - Pepsis chrysothemis

Moved

… Robyn Waayers, 2 October, 2015 - 5:25pm

Seems to key to P. chrysothemis (if my guess at "19b" is right!)

Robyn, here's my best shot at the keying sequence for this specimen using Hurd(1)(1952):

1a) Males (antennae not convolute; abdomen with seven visible segments) ......21b) Females(antennae convolute; abdomen with six visible segments)..............19
19a) Anterior femora below clothed with very long,bristle-like hairs ...............20 (leads to formosa (=grossa) or arizonica...both both within range, but I think not what you've got here?)19b) Anterior femora below glabrous, or at most with a few short hairs...........22 (??)
22a) Spurs of middle tibiae acutely curved near apex....................................23 (leads to elegans and cerberus...both currently synonymized under P. menechema; having entirely blackish wings; and range far to the east)22b) Spurs of middle tibiae not acutely curved near apex, straight or only slightly.......24 (??)
24a) Antennae with first flagellar segment equal to, or shorter than, the distance between the inner eye margins at the level of the posterior ocelli ....2524b) Antennae with first flagellar segment considerably greater than, the distance between the inner eye margins at the level of the posterior ocelli ....azteca
25a) Wings predominantly xanthochromatic......2625b) Wings predominantly or wholly melanochromatic.....33
26a) Forewings with apices wholly dark; occipital carina, as such, not attaining the pregular suture....2726b) Fore wings with apices whitish hyaline or at least considerably paler than exterior submarginal dark band, if present; occipital carina attaining the pregular suture.....31
27a) Posterolateral extensions of transverse groove on second abdominal sternite present and deeply incised; hind tibiae with inner tibial spur considerably longer than outer tibial spur....28 (??)27b) Posterolateral extensions of transverse groove on second abdominal sternite lacking or only faintly indicated; hind tibiae with inner tibial and outer tibial spurs of approximately equal length.....marginata (far out of range, mainly a West Indies species, rare in s. FL)
28a) Antennae wholly dark......2928b) Antennae with at least the apical segment tipped with orange, frequently several or all flagellar segments orange.....mildei
29a) Posterior femora above glabrous or at most with a few scattered hairs; forewings with exterior marginal dark band broad, occupying at least one-half of the distance from the wing apex to the middle of the third transverse cubital vein....3029b) Posterior femora above armed with erect and recumbent bristle-like hairs, most noticeably distally; wings with exterior marginal dark band narrow, occupying considerably less than one-half of the distance from the wing apex to the middle of the third transverse cubital vein ........angustimarginata
30a) Wings bright fiery red....chrysothemis chrysothemis30b) Wings brownish yellow or fulvous red.....chrysothemis lucasii
It would be great if you could check the specimen to verify the couplet choices I couldn't discern from the two photos here, marked with (??) above (especially lead 19b)!).

And, ideally, if would be wonderful if you might eventually be able to post photos of some of those salient characters in the leads above labelled with (??)...to serve as solid reference images for the characters in question.

… Aaron Schusteff, 2 October, 2015 - 1:06am

Posted images of those features with the main image

Looks like P. chrysothemis. Maybe P. c. lucasii? The colors of the wings seem less intensely red than other "obvious" P. chrysothemis.

… Robyn Waayers, 2 October, 2015 - 5:16pm

Great to have your additional images here, Robyn :-) Thanks!

The 3 additional images you posted clearly illustrate each of the couplets I was uncertain about (i.e. the couplets indicated by (??) in my comment above). So now every couplet in the keying sequence leading to a female chrysothemis in Hurd(1)(1952) is visually apparent and confirmed in your images here :-).

Regarding subspecies, I can see your point about the possibility of P. c. lucasii here, although that subspecies was indicated in Hurd(1)(1952) as being confined to eastern Texas. Note that Vardy(2) seems not to recognize the subspecies...perhaps because they're problematic to clearly separate? By the way, this individual also goes easily to chrysothemis in the "Key to orange-winged Pepsis rubra-group females in the USA" on pg. 58 of Part 1 in Vardy(2). The female here can indeed be seen to be in the Pepsis rubra-group from the very shallow angle at which the marginal cell meets the costa.

I find it interesting that...even though this clearly keys to a female chrysothemis in both Hurd(1952) and Vardy(2000), and overall the description of chrysothemis in Hurd fits here well...nevertheless Hurd indicates the presence of a dark ("humeral") band at the base of the fore wing three-fourths the length of the median (= posterior basal) cell. But the bases of the wings in this individual don't appear to have a dark band. [Seems that "variation" rarely, if ever, allows for a given individual to fit perfectly with descriptions!]

… Aaron Schusteff, 3 October, 2015 - 12:20am

Or a VERY small dark area at the base of wings.

I believe it can be safely said that, because of this statement: "26a) Forewings with apices wholly dark", P. chrysothemis can be identified somewhat comfortably in the field if the wings and antennae are visible, as the other Pepsis with dark wing tips is P. mildei, and it has orange antennae. There's at least one wasp amongst the P. chrysothemis species on BG that has substantial hyaline tips to its wings (but very RED wings). Maybe P. thisbe?

I missed that detail about P. c. lucasii being more eastern. I'll be happy with "Pepsis chrysothemis"!

… Robyn Waayers, 3 October, 2015 - 10:38am

Ahh...

Except it looks like Pepsis menechma has dark wing apical margins also.

… Robyn Waayers, 27 May, 2016 - 8:08pm