Cryptocheilus

Alice Springs Fauna •

Alice Springs WaspsAbispa ephippium Agriomyia maculata Bembicinae Bembix Blue Hairy Flower Wasp Cryptocheilus Cryptocheilus bicolor Delta latreillei Delta philantes Eumeninae Mud Nests and Potter Wasps Orchid Dupe Wasp Paralastor (Potter Wasp) Pseudabispa bicolor ssp. nigrocinctoides Sceliphron laetum Thynnid Flower Wasps Velvet Ant Family (Tribe Dasymutillini) Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp (Radumeris radula) Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp (Radumeris tasmaniensis)

Presented here is a spider wasp, belonging to the genus Cryptocheilus, family Pompilidae, that was rescued from a swimming pool in Alice Springs, Northern Territory.

All members of this family are solitary wasps, and whilst most are large, the species pictured here is slightly smaller then the usual spider wasp (unsure if this is maybe because it is a young adult).

The female of the species mate and then prepares their nests (usually in soil in the ground) and fills the nest with food (usually spiders) that is placed with the egg. The male adult have shorter life span and die shortly after mating. The eggs hatches and the larvae feed on the supplied food. After pupation the new young adult emerges, to begin their life cycle.

In Australia, there are four different Spider Wasps subfamilies that include, the Ceropalinae, Ctenocerinae, Pepsinae and Pompilinae.

Check out our Insects > Wasps > Orange Spider Wasp (Cryptocheilus bicolor).

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• Scientific classification
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthopoda
• Subphylum: Hexapoda
• Class: Insecta
• Subclass: Pterygota
• Order: Hymenoptera
• Superfamily: Vespoidea
• Family: Pompilidae
• Subfamily: Pepsinae
• Genus: Cryptocheilus
• Species:
  • Cryptocheilus australasiae (Haupt, 1935)
  • Cryptocheilus australis (Guérin-Méneville, 1838)
  • Cryptocheilus basipennis (Turner, 1910)
  • Cryptocheilus bicolor (Fabricius, 1775)
  • Cryptocheilus darwinii Turner, 1910
  • Cryptocheilus distinctus (Smith, 1868)
  • Cryptocheilus fulvidorsalis Turner, 1910
  • Cryptocheilus modestus (Smith, 1855)
  • Cryptocheilus praepositus Haupt, 1935
  • Cryptocheilus sathanas Turner, 1910

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Finke Gorge National ParkCamping & Picnic Area Boggy Hole Palm Valley Fauna Flora

FaunaBlack Headed Goanna Clam Shrimp Denham Stick-insect Nasutitermes triodiae Orange Spider Wasp Pied Butcherbird Sand Goanna Scarlet Percher Shield Shrimp Spinifex Pigeon Western Bowerbird – Finke Gorge NP Yellow-faced Whip Snake