four-banded stink bug hunter wasp

(Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus)

Conservation Status
four-banded stink bug hunter wasp
Photo by Babette Kis
  IUCN Red List

not listed

 
  NatureServe

not listed

 
  Minnesota

not listed

 
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Four-banded stink bug hunter wasp is a large sand wasp. It is common in the United States and southern Canada east of the Great Plains. It is less common in Minnesota where it is at the northwestern extent of its range.

Adults are to ¾ (17 to 19 mm) long. The antennae on the male have 10 segments (flagellomeres) beyond the scape and pedicel. On the female there are 11 flagellomeres.

The exoskeletal plate covering the first segment of the thorax (pronotum) is short and collar-like. There is a rounded lobe on each side of the pronotum that does not reach the small plate covering the wing base (tegula). The plate on the upperside of the large middle segment (mesonotum) is entirely black with no yellow markings.

The abdomen of the male has seven visible segments. The abdomen is black with 4 pairs of spots on the female, 5 pairs on the male. Each pair of spots forms a band interrupted in the middle. The distance between the bands increases approaching the end of the abdomen. The spots in the last two bands are widely separated.

The forewings are clear. The submarginal cell is clear, not brown.

The legs are mostly yellow beyond the base (coxa). The third segment (femur) on the middle leg is not expanded at the tip. The first segment of the last part of the leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, is slender, not inflated.

 
     
 

Size

 
 

Total length: to ¾ (17 to 19 mm)

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Habitat
 
 

 

 
     
 
Biology
 
 

Season

 
 

June to October

 
     
 

Behavior

 
 

 

 
     
 

Life Cycle

 
 

The female builds a nest in sandy soil. She provisions it with a true bug (Suborder Heteroptera), deposits an egg, then seals the chamber.

 
     
 

Larva Food

 
 

Paralyzed true bugs (Suborder Heteroptera)

 
     
 

Adult Food

 
 

Flower nectar

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

24, 27, 29, 30, 82.

 
  9/6/2023      
         
 

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 (apoid wasps, bees, sphecoid wasps)  
 

Family

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

Subfamily

Bembicinae  
  Tribe Bembicini (sand wasps)  
  Subtribe Bembicina  
 

Genus

Bicyrtes  
       
 

The tribe Bembicini was formerly in the subfamily Nyssoninae. It was later (Bohart and Menke, 1976) moved to the already existing subfamily Bembicinae based on a comprehensive analysis of morphological data.

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Bembidula quadrifasciata

Bicyrtes quadrifasciata

Monedula quadrifasciata

Monedula sallei

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

four-banded stink bug hunter wasp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Femur

On insects and arachnids, the third, largest, most robust segment of the leg, coming immediately before the tibia. On humans, the thigh bone.

 

Flagellomere

A segment of the whip-like third section of an insect antenna (flagellum).

 

Mesonotum

The principal exoskeletal plate on the upper (dorsal) part of the middle segment of the thorax of an insect.

 

Pronotum

The exoskeletal plate on the upper side of the first segment of the thorax of an insect.

 

Scape

On plants: An erect, leafless stalk growing from the rootstock and supporting a flower or a flower cluster. On insects: The basal segment of the antenna.

 

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.

 

Tegula

A small, hardened, plate, scale, or flap-like structure that overlaps the base of the forewing of insects in the orders Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Homoptera. Plural: tegulae.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
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Alfredo Colon

 
    four-banded stink bug hunter wasp      
           
    four-banded stink bug hunter wasp   four-banded stink bug hunter wasp  
           
    four-banded stink bug hunter wasp   four-banded stink bug hunter wasp  
           
    four-banded stink bug hunter wasp   four-banded stink bug hunter wasp  
           
    four-banded stink bug hunter wasp   four-banded stink bug hunter wasp  
 

Babette Kis

 
 

4 banded stinkbug wasp

 
    four-banded stink bug hunter wasp      
 

Maureen Burkle

 
    four-banded stink bug hunter wasp      
           
 
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Other Videos
 
  Sand wasp - Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus
Stoil Ivanov
 
   
 
About

Mar 30, 2019

Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus bringing stink bug nymph. Illinois Beach State Park, Lake County, Illinois, USA

August 12, 2018

 
  SAND WASP Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus
Rob Curtis
 
   
 
About

Sep 21, 2019

Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus SAND WASP visiting flowers. Chicago Park, Chicago, IL. 8/21/2019.

 
  Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus
Dave McShaffrey
 
   
 
About

Aug 17, 2013

Sand Wasps filmed at Strasburg, Ohio 8/15/2013 Video shows the wasps starting burrows and entering burrows dug previously. If you listen carefully at some points you can hear sand particles hitting the camera. In some scenes, paralyzed hemipterans (bugs) are being hauled into the burrows, where the wasp will lay an egg which will hatch into a larva to feed on the hemipteran, which remains paralyzed after being stung by the wasp. You can also see other insects entering the burrow, in particular small flies were common around the burrows and sometimes entered them. I think the flies are parasitizing either the paralyzed hempiterans or the wasp's eggs or larvae. This population has been at this site for over 10 years.

 

 

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Report a sighting of this insect.

 
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  Alfredo Colon
8/25/2022

Location: Albany, NY

four-banded stink bug hunter wasp  
  Babette Kis
August 2022

Location: Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI

4 banded stinkbug wasp

four-banded stink bug hunter wasp  
  Maureen Burkle
7/16/2020

Location: Rochester, MN, Olmsted County

four-banded stink bug hunter wasp  
  Alfredo Colon
8/12/2019

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota

four-banded stink bug hunter wasp  
  Alfredo Colon
8/8/2019

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota

four-banded stink bug hunter wasp  
           
 
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Created: 1/29/2020

Last Updated:

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