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Photo#268009
Is this Euodynerus? - Eumenes crucifera

Is this Euodynerus? - Eumenes crucifera
Fullerton Arboretum, Fullerton, Orange County, California, USA
April 21, 2009

Images of this individual: tag all
Is this Euodynerus? - Eumenes crucifera Is this Euodynerus? - Eumenes crucifera Is this Euodynerus? - Eumenes crucifera

Moved
Moved from Eumenes.

Hi Ron,
I think this is a Eumenes (see the petiolate metasoma), one of the true potter wasps.
I've sent you the pertinent links to the Identification Atlas of the Vespidae, by Matthias Buck, Stephen A. Marshall, and David K.B. Cheung.

 
Interesting specimen...
I looked through all the other Eumenes images in the guide and couldn't find any with such extensive yellow and lack of black markings on the abdomen.

 
Probably plenty of variation,
but color is generally a weak species character (MacLachlan, 1980; see genus INFO page). I don't have MacLachlan's key to the species (yet), so don't have a blooming idea beyond genus.
I just forwarded the same links to you & think you'll make good use of them; also shows how to differentiate Zethus, another petiolate eumenine wasp, from Eumenes. Those names certainly show early entomologists' preoccupation with Greek mythology.

 
Greek mythology
I'm sure there was no preoccupation, these names were just a large pool of handy, memorable, euphonious 'hieroglyphs' to assign to the growing number of discovered insect species

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