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Species Colpa alcione

Crioscolia alcione - Colpa alcione - female Wasp - Crioscolia? - Colpa alcione - male Wasp in Owens Valley - Colpa alcione - male Scoliid wasp? - Colpa alcione - female Bee - Colpa alcione - female Crioscolia alcione - Colpa alcione - female Wasp - Colpa alcione Crioscolia alcione, possibly - Colpa alcione
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
Superfamily Scolioidea
Family Scoliidae (Scoliid Wasps)
Genus Colpa
Species alcione (Colpa alcione)
Other Common Names
Halcyon Scoliid Wasp would be appropriate
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Colpa (Crioscolia) alcione (Banks 1917)
Crioscolia alcione (Banks 1917)
Campsoscolia alcione (Banks)
Trielis alcione Banks 1917
Explanation of Names
Colpa (Crioscolia) alcione (Banks 1917)
alcione = from the Ancient Greek Ἀλκυόνη (Alcyónē or Halcyónē), the name of two characters in Greek mythology, or the Greek word αλκυων (alcyónē), meaning 'halcyon birds or kingfishers'. The traditional Latin rendering of these words instead uses a 'y' rather than an 'i'.

In Greek mythology, Alcyone (or Halcyone) was one of the Pleiades, seven daughters of the Atlas, one of the Titans, and Pleione, an Oceanid nymph. Their equivalent star cluster consists of seven stars and is part of the constellation of Tauros.

Another Alcyone (or Halcyone) in Greek mythology was a mortal and the daughter of King Aeolus. She and her husband, Ceyx, were said to have angered Zeus by referring to each other as "Zeus" and "Hera". While the two were at sea, Zeus struck their ship for their prideful and blasphemous words. When Ceyx was thrown overboard in the shipwreck and drowned, she tried to throw herself overboard as well. The gods intervened in compassion, and Alcyone was transformed into a kingfisher (alcyónē in Greek) and Ceyx into a gannet (ceyx in Greek). When she went to build her nest on the beach during the winter solstice, Aeolus held back the wings to calm the waves for seven or fourteen days so she could lay her eggs without the nest being destroyed. The "halcyon days" of the winter solstice are named after her and were said to be a time when storms are calmed. In modern usage, the term has come to mean and time of peace and tranquility, often a time of nostalgia.

Certain halcyon birds or kingfishers are often used to represent peace or calmness. This is because in ancient times, especially in Greece, they were thought to calm and nest directly on the sea.
Identification

Range
w. US (WA-CA to CO-NM)(1)(2)
Works Cited
1.The Scoliidae of California
Hurd P.D. 1952. Bull. Calif. Insect Survey 1(6): 141-152.
2.Scoliid Wasps of the Southwestern United States
MacKay W.P. 1987. Southwestern Naturalist 32(3): 357-362.