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Photo#4929
Small wasp - Psorthaspis mariae

Small wasp - Psorthaspis mariae
Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
I think that this is some type of wasp. Maybe an ant. It was fairly small (less than an inch) and crawled about quickly on the ground, flying every now and then. Does anyone know what it is?

This is P. mariae
Evidently I didn't look at this photo carefully enough the first time. The first tergite is deep orange, and the last three abdominal segments are black (albeit the last two are covered with silvery pubescence), all three of the first tergites are orange. It also has very obvious fasciate wings. This matches Bradley's keys and his species description almost perfectly. For a full citation of Bradley (1944) or complete descriptions of any of the North American genera of the tribe aporini contact me directly at the e-mail listed under my account. This is a difficult piece of litertaure to find. Even the enormous library at Ohio State didn't have it.

Spider wasp
Looks to me like a spider wasp in the family Pompilidae, but never seen anything like it! Could be a teneral (just emerged from pupa), and therefore the pigment has not darkened yet. Beautiful shot. Got more wasps? If so, please see the "field guide" entry in the forum section. Thank you.

 
Compare this one
Looks very similar, if not identical, to this one from North Carolina:



Of course, nobody knows what that is, it might be a Dipogon, see the discussion under that image.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

 
Thanks
Hey, Thanks for the update. I really hope we can figure out what this is with your pictures.

 
Psorthaspis sanguinea.
Thanks go to Herschel Raney for exploring a university collection and getting the correct identification. Please see his comments on the image of the brightest specimen for the species.

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