Austrogorytes spryi
Workbook
We have seen this species here in past summers, although this is the first year in which I’ve located a nesting site. Based on photo-matching with iNaturalist sightings, I had previously called it Clitemnestra. However, as part of a larger project I’ve just embarked upon (ie improving my skills in crabronid identification), I decided to collect a specimen.
I first spotted the female in the photo above perched on low vegetation (24/2/2023). She flew down to a nest site in a sandy path … just in front of me … and commenced digging open what was obviously an existing nest. She was not carrying prey at the time. All of the images in Panel A are of that individual.
Panel B shows a male photographed nearby, just a few days before. It is clearly the same species.
I’m now confident that the species is not Clitemnestra, but rather Austrogorytes. And I’m also convinced that it is Austrogorytes spryi … a notably variable species, and one that has been recorded Australia-wide (Bohart, 1984).
Crabronidae: Bembicinae: Bembicini: Gorytina: Austrogorytes spryi
The following notes and associated images step through the reasoning behind my identification to genus Austrogorytes. The combination of small size, yellow bands on at least TI-IV, black clypeus, relatively wide ‘face’, striped ‘back foot’, and ‘roughened’ scutum are consistent with Austrogorytes spryi … and, importantly, exclude any of the other 30 candidate species.
For a list of features distinguishing Austrogorytes & Clitemnestra from other Bembicini, see my workbook notes for Austrogorytes bellicosus.
Image adapted from Museums Victoria Collections: https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/specimens/1018362
Fits the descriptions of Austrogorytes spryi, both Turner (1915) and Bohart (1984).
PANEL A: female
[label in collection = 2301K]
PANEL B: male
Update (15/2/23): based upon this work, I have written a blog post ‘Sand wasp puzzles: part 1’. It includes tips and resources for the identification of crabronids, more broadly.
Update (25/2/23): Austrogorytes cheat sheet now complete
References
Bohart, R.M. & Menke, A.S. 1976. Sphecid Wasps of the World: A generic revision. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Bohart, R.M. 1984. A revision of the genus Austrogorytes Bohart (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae). Australian Journal of Zoology, 32: 391-412
Turner, R.E. 1908. Notes on the Australian fossorial wasps of the family Sphegidae, with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1908: 457-535
Turner, R.E. 1915. Notes on fossorial Hymenoptera. XV. New Australian Crabronidae. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 8 15: 62-96
This is a workbook page … a part of our website where we record the observations and references used in making species identifications. The notes will not necessarily be complete. They are a record for our own use, but we are happy to share this information with others.