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Project Noah Nature School
Philanthus sp.
About 5-6 millimeters in body length, colored as shown. Completely yellow face denotes gender.
This is a male that had staked out a territory beneath a blooming saltcedar tree (Tamarix sp.) in a vast open field of heavily degraded shortgrass prairie with sunflower, yucca, prickly-pear cacti, and scattered elm trees.
This is either Philanthus pacificus or P. multimaculatus. The two species are virtually impossible to separate in the field, or from mere images of wild, living specimens.
Spotted on Jun 15, 2012
Submitted on Jan 13, 2014
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