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Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

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TaxonomyBrowse
Info
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Genus Tachytes

Tachytes? - Tachytes Gastrosericina? - Tachytes - male The Six Wasp Special - #3 of 6 - Tachytes distinctus - male green eyed bee/wasp? - Tachytes distinctus - female Wasp - Tachytes A female Tachytes pennsylvanicus? - Tachytes - female Tachytes guatemalensis - male Tachytes guatemalensis
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
No Taxon (Apoidea sans Anthophila – Apoid Wasps)
Family Crabronidae (Square-headed Wasps, Sand Wasps, and Allies)
Subfamily Crabroninae (Square-headed Wasps)
Tribe Larrini
Subtribe Gastrosericina
Genus Tachytes
Explanation of Names
Tachytes Panzer 1806
from the Greek ταχύτης, 'swiftness, speed'
Numbers
34 spp. in our area(1), ~300 worldwide(2)
Size
7-19 mm(3)
Identification
Key to spp. in (3)
Some species have very dark eyes:

in some species, males have modified flagellomeres:
basal: apical:
Range
worldwide
Life Cycle
Nests in sand, provisioned with grasshoppers, katydids
See Also
Some other green-eyed wasps, e.g. Larra, look similar.
Tachysphex spp. are generally smaller, with a pointy abdomen, and no pygidial plate.
Print References
Hilltoping behavior: Alcock (2007)