hr_dragonfly 的最愛

didn't really look or act like katydid wasp, but i have no other idea... neat red femurs... yellow crescent on body

about an inch long, very quick, spider wasp behavior, relatively rare compared to other stuff i was sseeing in the area

A dark spider wasp (male, I think, but I can't quite be sure) working a weedy area of a freshly mowed picnic area and play ground surrounded by various natural habitats. Appressed silvery pubescence apparent on head and thorax, especially notable around compound eye (but not at top), the edges of the pronotum, the forelegs, the basal segments of hind and mid legs, and to some extent on the pleura. There is also an interesting pattern of silvery pubescence on black in the posterior region of the thorax (from just behind the tegulae to the upper part of the propodeum, I think -- see especially image 4, but also images 2 and 7).

There is a strange grayish cast to some leg segments and some abdominal segments: gray in some lights, then just dull black in others.

The wings are somewhat clouded, becoming darker at the tips; they are subhyaline, with milky reflections from some angles but marvelous blues and greens from others. (see especially photos 2 and 7). The veins are contrastively black. In spite of the nice contrast, I'm unable to do much with the venation: in image 7, however, it looks like the third submarginal cell is either short petiolate or just meets the marginal cell at a point (I know I've seen a record of a spider wasp showing that pattern, but I've lost track of where that was). The apex of the marginal cell (if any?) seems to get lost in the dusky purple of the wing tips.

Note: there are two wasps in these photographs. This observation pertains to the wasp that's on the right in the first photo, at bottom in the second, and at the top right in the third.

The second wasp will have its own observation eventually: it is a female Episyron quinquenotatus, which I had been following as it explored a sandy path. The two wasps had this encounter, including a brief tussle (not included, since the single photograph was not in focus), and then the subject of this observation left the scene.

Updated: March 13: I've added 4 additional images of the male, which actually did stay in one spot for several moments after its initial encounter with the female.

I think I counted 11 flagellomeres, so this would be a male. Is it a male Episyron quinquenotatus? The white markings on terga 2 and 3 certainly might suggest that (although the markings on terga 3 are not basal, as they are in the female). However, I haven't been able to find a photo online that shows the unique features of this wasp: the pinkish-silvery coloring of the first tergum is something I have yet to see on any wasp I've encountered, and I couldn't find anything like it in my browsing through BugGuide or iNaturalist. It seems to be the result of appressed pubescence. Also note that there is white basally on the outer surface of the hind tibiae.

If I could find anything in my copy of Evans I might (or might not) be able to get somewhere, but...

Wings veins show moderately well in the last photo, if they help.

Help, please.