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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoidea sans Anthophila – Apoid Wasps » Thread-waisted Wasps (Sphecidae) » Ammophilinae » Cutworm Wasps (Podalonia)
Photo#1148214
Cutworm Wasps (Podalonia) - Podalonia - female
Copyright © 2015 Steven Mlodinow

Cutworm Wasps (Podalonia) - Podalonia - Female
Jackson Lake State Park, Morgan County, Colorado, USA
September 23, 2015
Size: 2-3 cm
Weedy/grassy area with scattered rabbitbrush in arid ag land near large reservoir with cottonwoods and russian olive

Images of this individual: tag all
Cutworm Wasps (Podalonia) - Podalonia - female Cutworm Wasps (Podalonia) - Podalonia
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Contributed by Steven Mlodinow on 2 October, 2015 - 12:20am
Last updated 17 January, 2018 - 11:26am

Podalonia
The petiole is too long for Sphex lucae. In that species the petiole is just over half as long as the dorsal surface of tergum 1 (almost as long in your wasp). Furthermore, the female of lucae usually has the wings distinctly orange in the basal 2/3 (see thumbnail below).
… Matthias Buck, 17 January, 2018 - 11:33am login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Sphex (Fernaldina) lucae.
… Matthias Buck, 17 January, 2018 - 11:26am login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Cutworm Wasps.
… Steven Mlodinow, 18 March, 2016 - 9:57am login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… John S. Ascher, 2 October, 2015 - 12:27am login or register to post comments

 
Podalonia
Looking at Salisbury and White's Insects in Kansas, I wonder if this is P. luctuosa, as they show male P. luctuosa as having an entirely orange abdomen... on the other hand, what few other sources I can access state that the abdomen tip of males should be black (females have all black abdomen)....
Alas
… Steven Mlodinow, 2 October, 2015 - 9:00am login or register to post comments

 
Not so fast....
Your exquisite image is of a female. This is the first specimen I've seen of a Podalonia female with an all-orange abdomen. But, I cannot easily turn this into some other genus, either, unless potentially Sphex lucae. The orangish, rather than violaceous wings make me wonder.
… Eric R. Eaton, 5 March, 2016 - 8:01pm login or register to post comments

 
Sphex lucae
Thanks Eric. The match looks to be a good one; I see the potential issue with wing color, but http://bugguide.net/node/view/1066221/bgimage and http://bugguide.net/node/view/172136/bgimage have wing color that is similar to the Jackson Lake State Park individual
Steve
… Steven Mlodinow, 5 March, 2016 - 8:45pm login or register to post comments

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