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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoidea sans Anthophila – Apoid Wasps » Thread-waisted Wasps (Sphecidae) » Sphecinae » Sphecini » Grass-carrying Wasps (Isodontia) » Mexican Grass-carrying Wasp (Isodontia mexicana)

Species Isodontia mexicana - Mexican Grass-carrying Wasp

Classification · Size · Identification · Season · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

Isodontia mexicana? - Isodontia mexicana

grass carrying wasp – Isodontia mexicana? - Isodontia mexicana - female

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 sans Anthophila – Apoid Wasps)

Family Sphecidae (Thread-waisted Wasps)

Subfamily Sphecinae

Tribe Sphecini

Genus Isodontia (Grass-carrying Wasps)

Species mexicana (Mexican Grass-carrying Wasp)

Size

Female: 17mm. Male: 16 mm.

Identification

Body with pale instead of black hair (unlike philadelphica). Legs black (with reddish in auripes, exornata and elegans).

Very similar to apicalis. The characters used in identification keys (3 vs. 2 mandibular teeth) are almost never visible on images. The two species can be differentiated by the following subtle characters (for experienced users - added by Matthias Buck):

Males (7 visible abdominal segments, 11 flagellomeres):

- Abdomen ventrally with pale hair brushes (sparse hairing in apicalis)

- Posterior terga of abdomen with significant silvery reflections (under certain lighting) due to appressed pale hair (less so in apicalis)

- Posterior terga of abdomen with scattered short erect pale hair (absent in apicalis)

- First flagellomere long and slender (shorter in apicalis)

Male, showing abdominal hairing

Females (6 visible abdominal segments, 10 flagellomeres):

- Head short behind eyes (long in apicalis, 'block head')

- Ocellar triangle separated from hind margin of head by about 1-1.5x its width (2x in apicalis)

- Females from southern and western locations (e.g., Texas) often have wings tinted yellowish (dark brown in apicalis throughout its range)

Females, mexicana on left, apicalis is on right, difference in head shape

Mexicana females with yellow-tinged wings

Both sexes:

- Base of tergum 1 next to petiole often with a small brown spot (uniformly black in apicalis) - this character requires further testing but seems very reliable

Showing brown spot at base of tergum 1

Season

May-October (North Carolina)

See Also

I. elegans

Print References

Brimley, p. 444 (1), lists (as Chlorion harrisi, apparently, see Calif. Academy Sciences) for Piedmont and mountains of North Carolina, May-October

Internet References

I. mexicana fact sheet. Penn State U.

Discover Life

Works Cited

1.	Insects of North Carolina C.S. Brimley. 1938. North Carolina Department of Agriculture.

Contributed by Eric R. Eaton on 18 October, 2005 - 7:07pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Beatriz Moisset, Matthias Buck, PaleoJon
Last updated 13 December, 2020 - 6:55pm

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