crabonid wasp

(Alysson oppositus)

Conservation Status
crabonid wasp (Alysson oppositus)
Photo by Alfredo Colon
  IUCN Red List

not listed

 
  NatureServe

not listed

 
  Minnesota

not listed

 
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Alysson oppositus is a species of crabonid wasp. It occurs in the United States and southern Canada. In the U.S. there are relatively few records of this species, but those records are mostly from New Hampshire to Virginia, west to Minnesota and Iowa, with just single records in Georgia, Tennessee, and Colorado.

Adults are small, about 516 (8 mm) in length. The body is long and slender.

On the female the head is mostly black. The mouth and the inner orbits of the compound eyes are yellow. The plate on the face (clypeus) is mostly broad but narrowed below, with three teeth at the lower margin. The jaws (mandibles) each have a small tooth just before the tip.

The antennae are mostly black and have 13 segments, consisting of a long basal segment (scape), a small connecting segment (pedicel), and a whip-like section (flagellum) with 11 segments (flagellomeres). The scape is black above, yellow below.

The thorax is black. There is a small yellow spot in front of each wing base. A small plate (tegula) covers the base of each forewing. The plate on the first thoracic segment (pronotum) is short and collar-like. It has a small, rounded lobe on each side that does not quite reach the tegula. The plate on the middle segment of the thorax (mesonotum) is expanded on each side into a thin plate (lamina) that extends over the base of the tegula. The rear face of the thorax, when viewed from behind, has two teeth on each side.

The rear part of the body (metasoma) is slender, shiny, and mostly black. The first segment (tergite) of the metasoma is red. The second tergite is red on the front half, with a large, rounded, bright yellow spot on each side, and black on the rear half.

The wings are slightly tinted brown and have dark veins. The forewing is tinted a little darker toward the tip. The cell (stigma) on the leading edge (costal margin) of the forewing is large and brown. There are three submarginal cells. The second and third submarginal cells are small. The second submarginal cell is petiolate. The lobe at the base of the hindwing (jugal lobe) is small but it is much larger than the tegula.

The legs are mostly black and have very short spines. On the middle legs the fourth segment (tibia) has just a single spur at the tip. The last part of each leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, is yellow.

The male is similar to the female. The metasoma is entirely black except for the two yellow spots on the second tergite. The antennae have only 10 flagellomeres. The last flagellomere is as long as the first and is curved inward. The wings are not distinctly tinted except in a few cells.

 
     
 

Size

 
 

 

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Habitat
 
 

 

 
     
 
Biology
 
 

Season

 
 

 

 
     
 

Behavior

 
 

Nests are grouped together (gregarious), often in sandy areas. The female excavates a short, slanted burrow with one to five cells. Each cell has a single egg and is provisioned with one to twelve adult or larval leafhoppers.

 
     
 

Life Cycle

 
 

 

 
     
 

Larva Hosts

 
 

Leafhoppers

 
     
 

Adult Food

 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

 
  4/2/2023      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

 

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
 

Order

Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps, and sawflies)  
 

Suborder

Apocrita (narrow-waisted wasps, ants, and bees)  
 

Infraorder

Aculeata (ants, bees, and stinging wasps)  
 

Superfamily

Apoidea (bees and apoid wasps)  
 

Family

Crabronidae (square-headed wasps, sand wasps, and allies)  
 

Subfamily

Bembicinae  
 

Tribe

Alyssontini  
 

Genus

Alysson  
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

 

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

This species has no common name. One of the common names for the family Crabronidae is crabonid wasps, and it is adopted here for convenience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Costal margin

The leading edge of the forewing of insects.

 

Metasoma

In Hymenoptera: the armored rear part of the body, consisting of the second segment of the abdomen and all segments posterior to it.

 

Stigma

In plants, the portion of the female part of the flower that is receptive to pollen. In Lepidoptera, an area of specialized scent scales on the forewing of some skippers, hairstreaks, and moths. In other insects, a thickened, dark, or opaque cell on the leading edge of the wing.

 

Tarsus

On insects, the last two to five subdivisions of the leg, attached to the tibia; the foot. On spiders, the last segment of the leg. Plural: tarsi.

 

Tibia

The fourth segment of an insect leg, after the femur and before the tarsus (foot). The fifth segment of a spider leg or palp.

 

 

 

 

 
 
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Alfredo Colon

 
    crabonid wasp (Alysson oppositus)      
           
 
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  Alfredo Colon
8/12/2019

Location: Woodbury, MN

crabonid wasp (Alysson oppositus)  
           
 
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Created: 4/2/2023

Last Updated:

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