Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Sapyga centrata Say, 1836
=Sapyga americana Cresson, 1880
=Sapyga pelopaei Ashmead, 1896
Identification
Head: Black, rough textured. Inner eye indented (emarginate) with yellow margin. Yellow dash on back eye margin. Yellow triangle above and between antenna bases on male. Mouth (clypeus) with yellow marks. Mandibles black with a yellow spot.
Antenna: Black, underside mostly orangish-yellow.
Thorax: Collar (prothorax) is very wide, black and pebbly with a yellow stripe, widely interrupted at center. Segment 1 (scutum) may have a pair of yellow dots, but usually none. Segment 2 (scutellum) has two wider spaced dots. Segment 3 (propodeum) has large oblong yellow spot on each side. Thorax side has a large yellow spot below wing base.
Wings: Wing knobs (tegulae) yellow with a brownish line through center. Wings clear, nerves and stigma dark brown, marginal cell tinted brown.
Legs: Thighs (femora) black, tip yellow. Shins (tibiae) yellow. Feet darker, brownish-yellow.
Abdomen: Black, smooth and shiny with yellow stripes.
Segment 1 entirely black on female; a yellow spot at each side on male.
Segments 2, 3 and 4 have wide stripes indented or only slightly interrupted at center.
Segment 5 has triangular-like marks at each side.
Segment 6 stripe usually entire.
Underside of 2 to 5 striped on male; 3 to 5 on female.
Range
eastern (Canada: ON; United States: MD, NY, OH, PA)
Life Cycle
A parasite of Osmia bucephala and O. pumila. Does not parasitize Osmia lignaria, possibly because O. lignaria uses mud and not leaves for cell division (per Krombein). Hoplitis truncata was mentioned as a host by Krombein in 1952-53 where S. centrata was found on same pine nesting area as H. truncata. Also parasitizes Leaf-cutter Bees Megachile. Females lay an egg by piercing the cell wall. When the egg hatches, it eats the host egg and provisions. When mature, larva form a cocoon developing into adult form, and over-winter as an adult still in the cocoon. One generation per year.
Remarks
Types:
Holotype female as Sapyga americana by Cresson, 1880. Locality: New York. In the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Drexel University.
Holotype as Sapyga pelopaei by Ashmead, 1896. Locality: Toronto, Ontario, no date. Bred by W. A. Williams from Black & Yellow Mud Dauber nest (Sceliphron caementarium). In United States National Museum, Smithsonian as “Inquire types – legacy date of uncertain quality”. No photos.
Note: Disputed by Krombein in 1967, who thought the nest was abandoned by the wasps and used by Leaf-cutter Megachile bees.
See Also
Similar Species: Males look remarkably like S. angustata from the west coast.
Print References
Ashmead, William Harris. (1896). Descriptions of new parasitic Hymenoptera. (Paper No. 2.). Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 23,(2) 179–234. (
described on pg. 179 by Ashmead as Sapyga pelopaei)
Cresson, Ezra Townsend. (1880).
in Proceedings of the monthly meetings of the Entomological Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia: November 12, 1880. Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 8: xix-xxii. (
keys to S. americana and S. centrata on pp. xx-xxi)
Krombein Karl Vorse. (1952). Preliminary annotated list of the wasps of Lost River State Park, West Virginia, with descriptions of new species and biological notes (Hymenoptera, Aculeata). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 54(4): 175–184. (
listed as a possible parasite of Hoplitis truncata on p. 175)
Krombein, Karl Vorse. (1967). Trap-nesting wasps and bees: life histories, nests, and associates. Smithsonian Press, Washington, DC. vi+570 pp.
(1)
Krombein, Karl Vorse. (1963). Natural history of Plummers Island, Maryland XVII. Annotated list of the wasps (Hymenoptera: Bethyloidea, Scolioidea, Vespoidea, Pompiloidea, Sphecoidea). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 76: 255-280. (
biology on p. 266)
Say, Thomas. (1836). Descriptions of new species of North American Hymenoptera, and observations on some already described. Boston Journal of Natural History, 1: 209-305. (
description on pp. 301-302)
