Alice Springs Fauna •
Alice Springs WaspsAbispa ephippium Agriomyia maculata Bembicinae Bethylidae Blue Hairy Flower Wasp Cryptocheilus Cryptocheilus bicolor Delta latreillei Delta philantes Eumeninae Liris (Wasp) Mud Nests and Potter Wasps Orchid Dupe Wasp Paralastor (Potter Wasp) Pison Pseudabispa bicolor ssp. nigrocinctoides Sceliphron laetum Sphex (Wasp) Thynnid Flower Wasps Velvet Ant Family (Tribe Dasymutillini) Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp (Radumeris radula) Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp (Radumeris tasmaniensis)
The wasp pictured here is from the genus Pison. This wasp was rescued from a swimming pool in Alice Springs, Northern Territory. After a few photos, the wasp eventaully dried itself off and flew away.
Emarginate inner margins of eyes suggests Pison… (many thanks to Ken Walker)1
The genus Pison are a cosmopolitan genus of wasps, within the family Crabronidae. Found throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of the world, with most species occurring in the Southern Hemisphere, and a third of speices occurring in Australia. At time of writing, there are 145 described species, although many species, especially in South America remain undescribed.4
The female wasps from the genus Pison, collected spiders for the nesting chambers. They then lay an egg with the paralysed spider, then they seal the nesting chamber. The egg then hatches and wasp larva eats the spider, before pupating and emerging as an adult from the nesting chamber.
More information in our section Insects > Wasps | Wasps Index | Crabronidae | Pison
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Informal: Pterygotes
- Order: Hymenoptera
- Superfamily: Apoidea
- Informal: Spheciformes
- Family: Crabronidae
- Subfamily: Crabroninae
- Genus: Pison
Footnote & References
- Many thanks to Kimberi Pullen and Ken Walker for family and genus ID, Entomology Australia “Invertebratology”, https://www.facebook.com/groups/507004496955277/
- Pison Jurine, 1808, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/Pison
- Genus Pison, iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/368724-Pison
- Genus Pison Observation, iNaturaistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/250783993
- Pison, Wikipeadia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pison
Alice Springs WaspsAbispa ephippium Agriomyia maculata Bembicinae Bethylidae Blue Hairy Flower Wasp Cryptocheilus Cryptocheilus bicolor Delta latreillei Delta philantes Eumeninae Liris (Wasp) Mud Nests and Potter Wasps Orchid Dupe Wasp Paralastor (Potter Wasp) Pison Pseudabispa bicolor ssp. nigrocinctoides Sceliphron laetum Sphex (Wasp) Thynnid Flower Wasps Velvet Ant Family (Tribe Dasymutillini) Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp (Radumeris radula) Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp (Radumeris tasmaniensis)
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