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Photo#77255
Philanthus multimaculatus - male

Philanthus multimaculatus - Male
Eaton Canyon Natural Area; alluvial bench ~ 1,100 ft., Los Angeles County, California, USA
September 13, 2006
Size: ~8 mm
Seems to be bee wolf time, and this looks like another Philanthus. I count 11 flagellomeres, so it should be a male. A few days ago I saw this species farther downstream in this dry wash.

Using the key to the California Philanthinae by Bohart & Grissell (Bull. of the Calif. Insect Survey, vol.19: PDF), I arrived at P. multimaculatus. Doug Yanega (Dept.of Entomology, Entomology Research Museum, UC Riverside, Riverside, CA) confirmed the ID.

Moved
Moved from Beewolves.

Yes.
Male Philanthus it is, and what an ornate individual! There is quite a variation in markings, but some of the characters needed for species ID are visible here. There is an old, out-of-print key to California Philanthini, available in most university libraries....I'll try to make a copy at some point.

 
Philanthus
Thank you, Eric! I'd very much appreciate seeing a copy of that key - actually, I just found it. It is vol.19, Bull. of the Calif. Insect Survey, and available as PDF. I do have a number of other photos showing different live specimen of this species from different angles.

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