Acarozumia amaliae

Images and Contributor Author Phil Warburton ◦

Pictured here are the first ever photographs of this wasp species, live and in the wild! The species is Acarozumia amaliae, which was previously known only by pinned specimens and hadn’t been seen anywhere since 2003. These photographic observations were made by Phil Warburton on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia in the Ulladulla area. In addition to being the first photos in the wild, they are also the southern-most record for the species, as they were previously thought to be confined to Queensland. The insects are pictured here, feeding on a Silky-pod vine, Parsonsia straminae.

The story of how Phil was able to get an ID is an interesting example of using iNaturalist and social media to draw upon expertise around the world. The ID was a collaboration of effort from experts in Rome, New York, and Australia, with the final ID being confirmed by Dr James Carpenter, a leading expert on Eumeninae wasps. The research notes below illustrate the journey of discovery.

Research notes:

Pinned specimens for A. amaliae appear to match this photographic observation. Ref specimen collected by E. F. Riek, 12 sept 1950 and published by the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institute.

https://eol.org/pages/236956

https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/media/?ark=9a363dc708f046489b78bf1921eafae3

The known geographic distribution is east coast Australia so that would be consistent with this photo obs.
https://www.gbif.org/species/1334044

The species is described by de Saussure (as the synonymous Nortonia amaliae – ref 1 ) in the following 1869 paper (see page 53) and the description is consistent with this photo:

https://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/entomology/Entomology_Resources/Hymenoptera/sphecidae/copies/deSaussure_1869.pdf

Ref 1:
Carpenter, James & BROWN, GRAHAM. (2021). Catalogue of the Australian Eumeninae (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Zootaxa. 4919. 1-68. 10.11646/zootaxa.4919.1.1.

P.S. There are pinned specimens in the Museum Victoria collection but they don’t appear to have been digitised yet.
https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?dataset_key=39905320-6c8a-11de-8226-b8a03c50a862&taxon_key=1334044

Many thanks for input from members of Australian Polistinae and other Hymenoptera and iNaturalistAU.

The last published record is 2003 by Borsato, who recorded it from Elliot River and Mackay. Also, Giordani Soika in 1977 recorded it from Brisbane and Westwood (under the combination Nortozumia amaliae).
James M. Carpenter

“Acarozumia matthewsi can be safely excluded. In addition to the different distribution, A. matthewsi has a very different color, with yellow and much more extensive markings.”
Marco Selis