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Black Flower Wasp - male & female

Family: Tiphiidae

Description:

A black male wasp ( about 15 mm long) with clear wings and narrow abdomen with a wingless female attached to him. The female had a very broad abdomen and her legs ( and thorax ?) were brown. They had probably just mated.

Habitat:

Spotted resting on wattle in a nature reserve.

Notes:

Males carry females around while mating and also feed them as some females in this family are wingless and do not fly. Adult wasps feed on nectar. The female wasps burrow into soil where they parasitise beetle larvae. The wasp larvae feed on the beetle larvae when they hatch.
These wasps probably are from the subfamily: Thynninae
https://sites.google.com/site/insectsoft...
According to Vinny "....this group of wasps is involved with the sexual mimicry of some Spider Orchids, apparently most wasps o f this group only become active when temps rise above 16 degrees. Would be great to find a nice patch of Spider Orchids and wait just as the temperature rises".

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2 Comments

Leuba Ridgway
Leuba Ridgway 9 years ago

Thanks for the information Vinny. Will have to be on the look-out. I spotted this at Mt Morton just across Baluk William Reserve. Might cut and paste your comment on to my notes if you don't mind so that it's part of the spotting.

Vinny
Vinny 9 years ago

Cool spot Leuba, this group of wasps is involved with the sexual mimicry of some Spider Orchids, apparently most wasps o f this group only become active when temps rise above 16 degrees.
Would be great to find a nice patch of Spider Orchids and wait just as the temperature rises.

Leuba Ridgway
Spotted by
Leuba Ridgway

Victoria, Australia

Spotted on Oct 17, 2014
Submitted on Oct 18, 2014

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