Red tailed Spider Hunter - Tachypompilus sp. - Tachypompilus ferrugineus

Moved

… Nick Fensler, 31 July, 2007 - 11:39am

Moved

… Eric R. Eaton, 12 March, 2007 - 3:59pm

Tachypompilus unicolor

I'd have to say it's unicolor. The more uniform color of the head and thorax was the main character I used but the photograph also was good enough to measure the length of the third antennal segment against the upper interocular distance and I got an approximate value that corresponds to T. unicolor (actually T. torridus unicolor in Evans,1950 but that subspecies has been elevated to species status). The wings are extremely violaceous, which is another supporting character. Geographic range isn't very helpful...both species of Tachypompilus have range overlap.

… Nick Fensler, 1 July, 2006 - 8:51pm

New information...

While looking things up for a recent query on a Tachypompilus in the forums I realized this individual does not belong under Tachypompilus unicolor. I found in Wasbauer and Kimsey (1985) that the ranges of T. unicolor and T. ferrugineus torridus do not over lap IN TEXAS. In fact, the only place where the two species meet is in southern California. Blame that on my lack of knowledge of the local fauna. Also, I attempted to measure the third antennal segment against the upper interocular distance and than can only be done in FULL FRONTAL VIEW. After comparing a specimen of unicolor sent to me by Will Ericson with my nominal ferrugineus I can see that the eyes of this specimen are much too convergent above to be unicolor. After reading Evans' description, which I should have done in the first place, this is indeed Tachypompilus ferrugineus annexus, judging by banded abdomen and range (Evans, 1950 [as T. f. burrus]; Krombein et al., 1979). The "IDing pompilids from photos" learning process continues:-)

… Nick Fensler, 31 July, 2007 - 11:32am

wasp

It looks like a hunting wasp in the genus Tachypompilus... I have a wasp like this in my collection

… Ray Simpson, 2 June, 2006 - 9:45pm

Thanks.

Thanks for the fast response, Ray.

Seeing as how this guy was found in south central Texas, would it be a T. ferrugineus or a T. unicolor?

....Ed....

… Ed Johnson, 2 June, 2006 - 10:15pm

wasp

According the the forum, T. unicolor is the western form of T. ferrugineus but since you are in Texas it really could be either... I'm not an expert by any means!

… Ray Simpson, 2 June, 2006 - 10:35pm

im pretty sure this is T. uni

im pretty sure this is T. unicolor, I have a bunch in my collection that correspod with this photo. and this picture doesn't show the black markings I see on T. ferrugineus

… liam Ericson, 3 June, 2006 - 12:08am

nice photographs

… liam Ericson, 3 June, 2006 - 12:08am