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

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Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

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Species Podium luctuosum

Twitchy blue-black wasp - Podium luctuosum Unidentified Wasp - Podium luctuosum Podium luctuosum? - Podium luctuosum Podium luctuosum? - Podium luctuosum Wasp Podium luctuosum? - Podium luctuosum - female Isodontia auripes? - Podium luctuosum Unknown Wasp - Podium luctuosum - male Unknown Wasp - Podium luctuosum - male
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 (minus Anthophila) - Apoid Wasps)
Family Sphecidae (Thread-waisted Wasps)
Subfamily Sceliphrinae
Tribe Podiini
Genus Podium
Species luctuosum (Podium luctuosum)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Podium luctuosum Smith 1856
Range
e US & ON
Habitat
Woodlands(1)
Food
Larvae are provisioned with Parcoblatta uhleriana (Uhler's wood cockroach) and Parcoblatta virginica (Virginia wood cockroach) (2)(1)
Life Cycle
Females nest in pre-existing cavities or in mud-covered cells underneath bark. The female provisions the cell with a paralyzed cockroach(1)
See Also
Sphex nudus is similar in coloration, but note the shorter petiole ("wasp waist"). It also has darker final tarsi ("feet") and lighter setae. The legs are also more spinose as it's a ground-nesting species.
Works Cited
1.Distribution and biology of the Sphecine wasps of Michigan (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae: Sphecinae)
Mark F. O'Brien. 1989. The Great Lakes Entomologist, 22(4): 199-217.
2.A reclassification of the Sphecinae with a revision of the Nearctic species of the tribes Sceliphronini and Sphecini
Bohart RM and Menke AS. 1963. University of California Publications in Entomology 30:91-182.