Two-lobed Sternum Digger Wasp
Male, profile
Ellura
Two-lobed Sternum Digger Wasp
Male, Face
 
                      
Two-lobed Sternum Digger Wasp (Sphex bilobatus)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera)
Family: Mud Dauber & Sand Wasp (Wasp: Sphecidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Two-lobed Sternum Digger Wasp (Sphex bilobatus)
This Photo:     🔍Male, Wing Venation🔎

Thank you Fauna_Mirifica for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~23mm long Male. In males the "Visible part of metasomal sternum VIII forming two separated lobes."
Another genus that looks quite similar to Sphex wasps is Prionyx. When we asked Fauna_Mirifica what the differences were, they said "Submarginal cell 2 is rhomboid in Sphecini, but it is rectangular in this specimen" a Prionyx. "The "hairy" patches on the metasomal side are also not found in Sphex, and the body posture is different (legs are usually more spread out in Prionyx)."

Copyright © 2022-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 18-Dec-2022
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.