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Photo#57879
Spider Wasp - Anoplius

Spider Wasp - Anoplius
Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA
June 11, 2006
Is the coloration a clue to the genus on this one?

On Lophopompilus...
This unfortunately it is not A. carolina (on a side note I'm not sure why they changed it to "carolina" it is "carolinus" in Evans, 1951 but it's "carolina" in Krombein et al., 1979 [Catalog of Hymenoptera of N.A. north of Mexico]. It must have to do with latin root agreement). Anyway, here's why it's not A. carolina. All of the specimens of the subgenus to which A. carolina belongs(Lophopompilus) that I have seen have abundant erect hair over at least the head and thorax. This is a very good picture and that would be clearly evident in this photo if it were A. carolina. This individual is practically bare. I suggest that it is a species in the subgenus Pompilinus (if that subgenus hasn't been synonymized with Arachnophroctonus). It could be Anoplius americanus or in the Anoplius marginatus complex.

Pompilidae: Anoplius carolinus
The educated guess of a non-wasp person.

 
Anoplius carolinus
Don, thanks for the "educated guess".

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