Black-headed Orange Spider Wasp
Female, Abdomen
Adelaide Hills
Black-headed Orange Spider Wasp
Female, Hindleg
 
                      
Black-headed Orange Spider Wasp (Cryptocheilus sp ES02)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera)
Family: Tarantula-hawk Wasp (Wasp: Pompilidae: Pepsini)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Black-headed Orange Spider Wasp (Cryptocheilus sp ES02)
This Photo:     Female, Mandibles

Thank you Sam Gordon for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found in the Adelaide Hills and possibly elsewhere
Being ~23mm long, ~35mm wingspan, this specimen was on the smaller side, but not the smallest Cryptocheilus we found. But it is the blackest. With less orange than the other three.
It is also the hairiest, both covered in very short golden hair, as well as haveing some very long rows of hair around it's head & shoulders.
Note the wings have a black band near the body and the head is mainly black, except for an orange stripe along the lower part of it's face (on the "clypeus"). The upper part of the face (the "frons") is not only black, but also covered in the short golden hair; like much of it's body.
This specimen also has the dark wing tips.

Copyright © 2019-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 06-Jan-2019
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.