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Square-Headed Wasp

Liris partitus

Description:

This is a rare wasp in the Family Crabronidae. She was all velvety black with a metallic blue sheen to the thorax and the dark tips of the wings. The rest of the wings were bright orange red. The wings are characteristic of this species, with the straight line divide between black and red. She also has green eyes. About 1.5 cm in length. This wasp has been reported from Mexico, Guatemala and the southern United States. Surprisingly, this wasp is rarely seen and was only described in 1984. Liris wasp females overwinter as mated adults in burrows they construct for hibernation. They are solitary ground nesting wasps which prey primarily on crickets (Gryllidae). The cricket is captured, partially paralyzed and dragged to a preconstructed nest. Several crickets might be brought to the nest before she lays an egg on the last one and closes the burrow. (See references below). Family Crabronidae, subfamily Crabroninae (which used to be in the Family Sphecidae).

Habitat:

Landed briefly on a walk way, Chiflón Waterfall EcoPark, Chiapas, Mexico.

Notes:

Many thanks to Susanna Heideman for her help with the identification. https://bugguide.net/node/view/15316/bgp... https://bugguide.net/node/view/1602787/b... https://bugguide.net/node/view/1020588/b... https://www.inaturalist.org/observations... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liris_part... Biology: http://bugeric.blogspot.com/2012/03/wasp... https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=FEx... http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=s...

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LaurenZarate
Spotted by
LaurenZarate

Chiapas, Mexico

Spotted on May 30, 2019
Submitted on Jul 8, 2019

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