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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Tiphioidea » Tiphiid Wasps (Tiphiidae) » Tiphiinae » Paratiphia » Paratiphia robusta
Photo#155581
Tiphiid - Paratiphia robusta - female
Copyright © 2007 Fred Bentler

Tiphiid - Paratiphia robusta - Female
Lake Roosevelt, Ferry County, Washington, USA
October 9, 2007
Size: 14mm
This wasp looks to me like Paratiphia robusta, seems to fit its Western distribution and period of adult activity. It's nectaring on green rabbitbrush, is associated with june and may beetles and also tiger beetles -- because of it's small size I wonder if it might likely prey on the latter. Any ideas /info would be appreciated.
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Contributed by Fred Bentler on 6 November, 2007 - 12:02am
Last updated 21 December, 2017 - 8:27am

Size does not matter very much...
For many hunting wasps. Sometimes the ordinary prey seems disproportionately stronger and better armed than its wannabe hunter, yet this latter somehow manages to subdue it.
One of the most stiking examples of this exists in this same Tiphiid family (subfamily Methocinae).
The small apterous, ant-like female of European Methoca ichneumonides paralyzes nearly full-grown Tiger beetle larvae by stinging them on the underside of their... mourhparts! Ironically, the formidable mandibles of the predatory larva are TOO LARGE to efficiently seize its pygmy foe, who litterally slips between them.
BTW, thanks for sharing such good pictures of North Western Hymenoptera.
… Richard Vernier, 6 November, 2007 - 8:52am login or register to post comments

 
It's amazing
to me how so many of the wasps have adapted with small advantages to use in brinksmanship against the most lethal of predators. It makes sense that small is better against tiger beetle larvae...they look like they've got some wicked jaws. I thought about the possibility of small host/small adult from some reference I can't remember now... might have been buried somewhere in Kevin O'Neill's Solitary Wasps - Behavior and Natural History - in which the size of some wasps were dependent on host size. O'Neill mentioned Pterombrus as using cicindela as its host... I haven't been able to find any reference anywhere to that tiphiid. I'm supposing it's a wingless female?
… Fred Bentler, 6 November, 2007 - 10:45pm login or register to post comments

 
Probably Paratiphia.
The genus here is probably Paratiphia, very common in eastern WA and OR. In fact, P. robusta is one of the more common species:-)
… Eric R. Eaton, 6 November, 2007 - 11:47am login or register to post comments

 
Tiphiid
I took a specimen and would be happy to send it your way if you're interested.
… Fred Bentler, 6 November, 2007 - 11:13pm login or register to post comments

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