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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 » Square-headed Wasps, Sand Wasps, and Allies (Crabronidae) » Philanthinae » Cercerini » Cerceris » Smoky-winged Beetle-bandit (Cerceris fumipennis)

Species Cerceris fumipennis - Smoky-winged Beetle-bandit

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Identification · Range · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Cerceris ID Request - Cerceris fumipennis - male Mostly Black Abdomen - Cerceris fumipennis Cerceris fumipennis? with colorful Buprestid beetle - Cerceris fumipennis - female Euodyneras megaera? - Cerceris fumipennis wasp - Cerceris fumipennis Potter Wasp or Cercerini? - Cerceris fumipennis Beewolf? - Cerceris fumipennis - female wasp with a beetle - Cerceris fumipennis - 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 Crabronidae (Square-headed Wasps, Sand Wasps, and Allies)
Subfamily Philanthinae
Tribe Cercerini
Genus Cerceris
Species fumipennis (Smoky-winged Beetle-bandit)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Cerceris fumipennis Say 1837
Identification
Dark smoky brown wings. One creamy yellow band on the second abdominal segment. Three light creamy yellow spots on the face of the females and two on the face of the males.
♂
♀
Mating pair: Both of them have many mites on the propodeum. (back of thorax) More pairs are here:
Range
e. US, Ont. (BG data)
Season
most records: Jul-Aug (BG data)
Food
Larvae feed mostly on Buprestid beetles. (1)
Life Cycle
Ground nesting. The entrance to the nest is a hole about the diameter of a pencil.
Females with prey:
Remarks
This species preys mostly on adult metallic woodborers (Buprestidae), including the invasive emerald ash borer. The wasp is even being employed to detect the presence of EAB. Please see this website for more information.
Print References
Dube, M. and D. Chandler. 2017. Biology, prey, and levels of prey paralyzation by Cerceris fumipennis Say (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) in New Hampshire. Entomological News, 126(5): 343-351.
Internet References
Smokey Winged Beetle Bandit Enlisted in NH’s Emerald Ash Borer Fight

Wasp Watchers

Biosurveillance and Cerceris fumipennis - Philip Careless (PDF)

Maine Forest Service

Wikipedia

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD)

iNaturalist
Works Cited
1.Field Guide to the Jewel Beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) of Northeastern North America.
Paiero et al. 2012. Canadian Food Inspection Agency. 411 pp.
Contributed by Eric R. Eaton on 29 November, 2005 - 10:37am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Joshua Stuart Rose, Bbarnd, Mike Quinn, Robert H. Biagi
Last updated 3 March, 2021 - 12:57pm

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