The right hindleg of this pretty wasp was snared by one of the milkweed flower's sticky pollinia glue spots, so I first got some good shots from different angles before helping it get unstuck.

In Bohart's 1968 paper on the species of the phaleratus group (which is now the genus Saygorytes) the hindclaw of S. apicalis is said and shown to have an enlarged basal knob, and that does appear to be the case on both the right and left hindleg of this male. Click here to see the left hindclaw at full resolution and here to see the free half of its right hindclaw. Note in this second hi-res photo that the left side midclaw is also in focus, and it appears to have these lobes as well (Bohart only specified their occurrence on the hindclaws of S. apicalis).

Its coloration also mostly fits well with the original desciption of S. apicalis by Smith (1856), but it does differ in a few specifics:

- Its foreleg colors are essentially the same as those of mid- and hindlegs (Smith wrote that the forelegs are yellowish while the other legs are ferruginous).
- Only the midcoxae seem to have distinct black markings at their bases in this NM male (versus all coxae with black bases in Smith's description).
- This male has one large yellow spot on each thoracal pleura (versus two pleural spots mentioned by Smith: one under each wing, plus "a large subovate macula on each side of the metathorax").

According to the distribution map of S. apicalis shown at discoverlife.org the species has been found as far west as NM, but they have no images of specimens - nor do there seem to be any photos of pinned or live examples on other websites.

If BG contributors with expertise on gorytine diversity could check this ID, and perhaps confirm it, then a page could be added here with first example for S. apicalis ... and perhaps that would also be the first identified photo record for that species anywhere on the web. On the other hand, definite conclusions about this sticky specimen may be impossible? I wouldn't be surprised if my entry remains stuck in un-ID-able place, even if the wasp itself did move on ;-)