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Photo#67100
Unknow Wasp - Auplopus mollis - female

Unknow Wasp - Auplopus mollis - Female
Prairie Unit, Osceola County, Florida, USA
July 21, 2006
Size: 8 mm
This appears to be a sphecid wasp perhaps family Larrinae? My guide doesn't show this wing veination. If you can at least get me to the right family or genus, that would be great.

Images of this individual: tag all
Unknow Wasp - Auplopus mollis - female Unknow Wasp - Auplopus mollis - female

Moved
Moved from Auplopus.

Pompilidae
It looks more like a Pompilid to me.. genus Auplopus (maybe Auplopus mellipes??). They look very much like Sphecids...

 
Pompilid...
It is most definitely in the genus Auplopus. I have not seen the subspecies of A. mellipes that is restricted to Florida (A. m. meridianus) and this specimen has significant greenish reflection, which I have never seen on the nominal subspecies. It also vaguely appears to have a polished pygidial area, but that character can be hard to judge from a photo (even from a photo as good as this). There are several species of Auplopus found in Florida and A. nigrellus is one that can have rufous legs and greenish integument. However, this a tough call without a specimen in hand (but fairly easy with one, by the way) and it's probably safer just to move it to the Auplopus genus page.

 
Now that I have Townes...
I was able to look at the species descriptions and determine that this is Auplopus mollis. Previously I only had a question about the pygidial area and the extent of the rufous coloration of the legs but the info in Townes cleared that up more than adequately.

 
Nick thank you so much for in
Nick thank you so much for investigating the name of this wasp. Now I can add a proper tag for it in my collection. It was kind of you. What guide did you use for ID?

 
Townes, 1957
It is actually the only existing revision of the Pompilidae in the subfamilies Pepsinae (this Auplopus) and Ceropalinae for the nearctic region. It's a US National Museum Bulletin (209) written in 1957 by Henry Townes. It's hard to find a hard copy but it's all we have for this group at the moment. This genus is in SAD shape and needs revision.

Sphecid
Looks like the wing veins of the Sphecinae tribe in the Sphecid wasps. Go here and check the claws and key:

http://www.hr-rna.com/RNA/Other%20insect%20pages/AR%20Sphecid%20Wasp%20tribe%20key.htm

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