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Photo#474536
Vespidae--Ancistrocerus - Ancistrocerus adiabatus - female

Vespidae--Ancistrocerus - Ancistrocerus adiabatus - Female
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, San Diego County, California, USA
April 25, 2010
Size: BL~11 mm

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Vespidae--possibly Polistes dominula? - Ancistrocerus adiabatus Vespidae--Ancistrocerus - Ancistrocerus adiabatus - female

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Ancistrocerus sp. - female (Eumeninae)
Blunt anterior angles of the pronotum (the yellow "shoulders") seem to suggest A. spilopterus rather than A. catskill.
In addition to the color differences on wings and antennae you point out, the European Paper wasp is a much more slender, long legged insect than Ancistrocerus solitary Wasps.
Was collecting water; Eumenine wasps nearly always collect dry, rather than wet, mud for the mortar of their nests.

 
Ancistrocerus spilopterus
I've been searching the web and cannot find an author or date for A. spilopterus. No luck on sites such as DiscoverLife and EOL. Has it been named--or renamed--recently?

 
Ancistrocerus sp Female
Thank you so much for your identification, Richard. It is much appreciated. We are delighted to add a new genus of Eumeninae to our survey. (And I am glad it's not the European Paper Wasp!)
We find most of our Eumeninae in the vicinity of water, sometimes as here actually in tiny pools. Do they use the water to moisten the dry mud?

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