Red-legged wasp
| Red-legged wasp | ||||||||||||
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Red-legged wasp ( Episyron rufipes ), female |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Episyron rufipes | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
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The red-legged wasp ( Episyron rufipes ) is a hymenoptera from the family of the wasp (Pompilidae).
features
The animals reach a body length of 8 to 12.5 millimeters (females) or 6 to 9 millimeters (males). They have a black basic color. There are two white spots on each side of the abdomen . The females have, among other things, a white spot in front of the scales on the wing joint ( tegulae ) and on the last tergite of the abdomen. The posterior femora are colored bright red from the center to the apical end. The posterior tibia are bright red. The males' pterostigma is three times as long as it is wide. The middle femora and tibia are colored light red at the apical end, at least on the underside. The males of the other Episyron species are difficult to distinguish from those of Episyron rufipes .
Occurrence
The species occurs from Europe to Central Asia. It inhabits open to lightly overgrown sandy areas and paths. The animals fly in two generations from mid-May to early October. The species is rare in the south of Central Europe and widespread in the north.
Way of life
Females of the red-legged wasp create their nests in the sand, whereby aggregations of several females can also be formed. The brood is supplied with orb web spiders , which are usually caught directly from the web. To do this, the wasps fly into the web and catch the spider, which is abseiling quickly. This is then pulled backwards into the previously created brood cell. A frequently registered species of spider is the crevasse spider ( Nuctenea umbratica ).
Often the female wasps steal each other's prey ( kleptobiosis ). The species is parasitized by the cuckoo wasps Evagetes crassicornis , Evagetes pectinipes and Ceropales maculata .
supporting documents
literature
- Rolf Witt: Wasps. Observe, determine. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-89440-243-1 .
Web links
- Episyron rufipes at Fauna Europaea