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Species Dielis plumipes - Feather-legged Scoliid Wasp

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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)
Subfamily Campsomerinae
Genus Dielis
Species plumipes (Feather-legged Scoliid Wasp)
Other Common Names
Feather-legged Scoliid Wasp
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Dielis plumipes (Drury, 1770)
Campsomeris plumipes
Orig. Comb.: Sphex plumipes Drury, 1770
Numbers
3 subspecies/forms(1). With the exception of some co-occurrence of ssp. fossulana and ssp. plumipes in North Carolina, the subspecies are distinctly geographically separate.(2)
1. D. plumipes confluenta: central to northern (n.AR, CO, IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, NM, OH, OK, SD, n.TX, e.WY)
2. D. plumipes fossulana: Austroriparian / southeastern (AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MI, NC, SC, e.TX)
3. D. plumipes plumipes: Austral life / east of the Appalachians (DE, MD, NC, NJ, VA)
Size
15-25 mm(1)
Identification
Medium-sized, hairy; abdominal spots/bands yellow or creamy white(1)

D. plumipes - male & female
Range
Rocky Mtns, east
Life Cycle
Scoliid wasps are parasitic upon larvae of soil-inhabiting scarab beetles.(1)
Flower visitation records were given by Krombein (1952) for the Florida subspecies, and Kurczewski (1963) reported on the biology of a Midwestern subspecies.
See Also
Dielis pilipes - widespread western distribution
Dielis tolteca males are nearly identical to their eastern counterpart D. plumipes. -George Waldren, 21 October 2010

Dielis tolteca (males)
Dets. George Waldren
Print References
Krombein, K.V. 1952. Biological and taxonomic observations on the wasps in a coastal area of North Carolina. Wasmann Journal of Biology 10: 257-341.
Kurczewski, F.E. 1963. Biological notes on Campsomeris plumipes confluenta (Say). Entomological News 74: 21-24.