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Photo#1088807
Sphecidae! - Palmodes - female

Sphecidae! - Palmodes - Female
Santa Cruz, RMG, Santa Cruz County, California, USA
June 18, 2015
Size: ~18mm
Sphecidae! Not Pompilidae as I had guessed!

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Note, I lightened the picture so more detail could be seen.

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Sphecidae! - Palmodes - female Sphecidae! - Palmodes - female

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Adult Female!
Arthur, I'm counting 10 flagelomeres on the antennas. That means that this wasp is most likely a female. I'm still not sure about the blue hairs though. Good Luck!

 
Thanks for that tip Bob...!
I read that a certain sex of be or wasp has a certain number of segments and I am always a little confused by what to count. Often the large segment at the base of the antenna is different from the rest.

In BG Glossary it says: The three basic segments of an antenna are the: scape (base), the pedicel (stem), and the flagellum, a whip-like structure. The latter is often composed of many units known as flagellomeres.

My bee book says: 12 antenna "subunits" for female bee, and 13 for male. The flagellomere rule for (sphecid?) wasps seems more readily understandable. Males, I am guessing would have one or more extra flagellomeres? Anyway for now I will settle for calling it female!

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