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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Vespoidea » Hornets, Yellowjackets; Paper, Potter, Mason, and Pollen Wasps; and Allies (Vespidae) » Pollen Wasps (Masarinae) » Pseudomasaris » Pseudomasaris marginalis
Photo#424667
Northern Pseudomasaris - Pseudomasaris marginalis - male
Copyright © 2010 Rob Longair

Northern Pseudomasaris - Pseudomasaris marginalis - Male
Little Highwood Pass, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Kananaskis. 1830 m., Alberta, Canada
July 8, 2010
Assuming I can use the key in Richards (1963 with corrections in Richards, 1966), this is P. marginalis, based on specimens. This site is near the northern recorded limits of the genus (and subfamily). This male and the female in the accompanying pictures (some of which are not very sharp) are patrolling/foraging (male) and foraging (female) at a site with a number of scorpionweed plants (Phacelia sericea). Individuals of both sexes also rest on nearby rocks - this seems to be part of males patrolling for females but I'm not clear on what females are doing. Mixing pollen and nectar in the crop to provision cells?
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Contributed by Rob Longair on 10 July, 2010 - 10:57pm

I agree, Rob -
and thanks for contributing these images.
For clarity, since it is a different specimen, please unlink the male from the photos of the female (I assume those photos were of the same specimen?).
… Hartmut Wisch, 18 January, 2011 - 6:08pm login or register to post comments

 
Done, I think?
Done, I think?
… Rob Longair, 18 January, 2011 - 7:22pm login or register to post comments

 
Thanks, Rob -
Re. your question about female behavior, aside from provisioning trips, they build their cells with a mixture of mud and nectar/ or water (this may vary somewhat between species). Would be neat if you could find a nest, perhaps on rocks, and more or less concealed. There's a report (Dorr & Neff, 1982), alas without confirmed identity of the builder, of P. marginalis using an existing beetle boring in a log.
… Hartmut Wisch, 18 January, 2011 - 9:46pm login or register to post comments

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