Cryptocheilus bicolor (Orange Spider Wasp)Cryptocheilus bicolor Prey
With the common name of Orange Spider Wasp (Cryptocheilus bicolor) is a large, coloured spider wasp from the family Pompilidae. They are also known as the Spider Hunting Wasp.
The female can be up to 35 mm in length, with orange-brown coloured wings. They have a black thorax and eyes, with the black extending down to the abdomen, that also includes two broad orange bands. The head, legs and antenna are orange.
A solitary species, the Orange Spider Wasp feed on nectar during the summer months. The female wasps prepare a nest chamber, either as a burrow in the ground, on tree trunks or made out of mud. They search and paralyse spiders by stinging them, drag them back to their nest chambers and lay an egg on the spider’s body. The larva will hatch and feed internally on the spider’s bodily fluids.
It was interesting to watch this Orange Spider Wasp flying from yukka plant to yukka plant, walking rapidly, as well as doing short hops, searching at the base of the yukka leaves, looking for spiders. This will explain why the various spiders that were here such as the Golden Orb-weavers and Long-jawed Orb Weavers suddenly disappeared… food for the Orange Spider Wasp.
See more information and images on this wasps here:
- Olive Pink Botanic Garden Orange Spider Wasp
- Finke Gorge National Park Orange Spider Wasp
- Cryptocheilus bicolor (Alice Springs Fauna)
Spider Hunting Wasp, Cryptocheilus bicolor.
Unknown photographer
Source: Museums Victoria
Copyright Museums Victoria / CC BY (Licensed as Attribution 4.0 International)
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthopoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Subclass: Pterygota
- Order: Hymenoptera
- Suborder: Apocrita
- Infraorder: Aculeata
- Superfamily: Pompiloidea
- Family: Pompilidae
- Subfamily: Pepsinae
- Tribe: Pepsini
- Genus: Cryptocheilus
- Species: Cryptocheilus bicolor
Footnote & References
- Orange Spider Wasp Cryptocheilus bicolor), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/198790-Cryptocheilus-bicolor
- Cryptocheilus bicolor (Fabricius, 1775), Spider Hunting Wasp, Museums Victoria Collections, https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/species/8608
- Spider wasp, NSW Department of Primary Industries, https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/plant/bees-and-wasps/spider-wasp
Cryptocheilus bicolor (Orange Spider Wasp)Cryptocheilus bicolor Prey
WaspsWasps Index Australian Large Wasps Australian Mud Nest Wasps Mud Wasp Velvet Ants Abispa ephippium Acarozumia amaliae Aulacidae Australodynerus Bembix Bembicinae Blue Hairy Flower Wasp Braconidae Chrysididae Cryptocheilus bicolor (Orange Spider Wasp) Delta latreillei (Potter Wasp) Eumeninae Ferreola handschini (Orange-collared Spider Wasp) Flower Wasps Gasteruptiid Wasp Hairy Flower Wasps Isodontia (Grass-carrying Wasp) Lissopimpla excelsa (Orchid Dupe Wasp) Mutillidae Paralastor sp. Pseudabispa bicolor ssp. nigrocinctoides Radumeris radula (Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp) Radumeris tasmaniensis (Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp) Sceliphron laetum Thynnid Wasps Tiphiidae Yellow and Black Wasp
InsectsBees Beetles Blattodea Butterflies Coleoptera Cicada Crabronidae Diptera Dragonflies & Damselflies Formicidae Hemiptera Heteroptera (True Bugs) Mango Planthopper Moths Orthoptera Orthopteroid Processionary Caterpillar Stink Bugs, Shield Bugs and Allies Syrphidae Wasps Water Scorpion (Laccotrephes tristis) Witchetty Grub