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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Scolioidea » Scoliid Wasps (Scoliidae) » Campsomerini » Pygodasis » Saddleback Scoliid Wasp (Pygodasis ephippium)

Species Pygodasis ephippium - Saddleback Scoliid Wasp

Scoliid Wasp - Pygodasis ephippium - female Campsomeris ephippium - Pygodasis ephippium - female Campsomeris ephippium 2 - Pygodasis ephippium Campsomeris ephippium - Pygodasis ephippium - male Campsomeris (ephippium?) - Pygodasis ephippium - female Wasp - Pygodasis ephippium Pygodasis ephippium Pygodasis ephippium
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)
Superfamily Scolioidea
Family Scoliidae (Scoliid Wasps)
Tribe Campsomerini
Genus Pygodasis
Species ephippium (Saddleback Scoliid Wasp)
Explanation of Names
Pygodasis ephippium (Say 1837)
Numbers
2 sspp. total, 1 in our area
Identification
A large, black scoliid with two broad orange bands on the abdomen. The body setae are black, unlike the orange-marked Dielis (female D. dorsata and D. tolteca). Unlike most of our campsomerine species, the male has the same color pattern as the female.

The two subspecies are separated based on wing coloration. P. e. ephippium is the dark-winged subspecies and occurs in our area. P. e. wagneriana is the light-winged subspecies and occurs in Central and South America.
Range
se AZ & c. TX to Columbia [map] (Discover Life, BG data)
Habitat
moderately common from lowland subtropical thorn scrub to Quercus-Pinus woods at 1200 m in Nuevo Leon, Mexico(1)
Season
two flights, early spring and fall (BG data)
Remarks
fast, evasive flyer(1)
Works Cited
1.Scoliidae (Hymenoptera) of the Lower Río Grande Valley.
Porter, C.C. 1981. The Florida Entomologist 64(3): 441-453.
Contributed by George Waldren on 3 September, 2009 - 5:33pm
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, v belov, PaleoJon
Last updated 7 July, 2024 - 8:12pm

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