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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Spider Wasps, Velvet Ants and allies (Pompiloidea) » Spider Wasps (Pompilidae) » Pepsinae » Tarantula-hawk Wasps and Allies (Pepsini) » Tarantula-hawk Wasps (Pepsis) » Elegant Tarantula-hawk Wasp (Pepsis menechma)
Photo#305830
What is this? - Pepsis menechma
Copyright © 2009 zazuthegrey

What is this? - Pepsis menechma
Knoxville,, Knox County, Tennessee, USA
July 17, 2009
I was sitting outside today around 4 p.m and this bug came crawling across my yard. I thought a first it was a regular wasp but it was much larger and never flew. It crawled the distance of the yard, across the sidewalk and then went into some mulch right after I took this photo. Does anyone know what this is? The antenna were very orange and if a wasp it is the largest wasp I have ever seen.
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Contributed by zazuthegrey on 17 July, 2009 - 7:32pm
Last updated 19 August, 2013 - 6:53pm

Moved
Moved from Spider Wasps. The head shape of most Pepsis is quite different than Entypus, the only other pepsine genus that approaches that size.
… Nick Fensler, 19 August, 2013 - 6:53pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies.
… George Waldren, 10 October, 2009 - 4:00pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… Ken Schneider, 17 August, 2009 - 11:41am login or register to post comments

Spider Wasp
It's a Spider Wasp. It catches spiders and buries them with eggs which hatch and eat the spider. Yours looks like this "Tarantula Hawk":


(That's not a firm ID of species. There might be others similar.)
… John F. Carr, 17 July, 2009 - 7:37pm login or register to post comments

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