sand wasp

not listed

not listed

not listed

Argogorytes is a widespread genus of sand wasps in the subtribe Bembicini. There are 31 Argogorytes species worldwide. Only two species occur in North America, and only one of these occurs in Minnesota.

The appearance (morphology) and behavior (biology) of most species in the tribe Bembicini, all species except those in the well-studied genus Bembix, are woefully understudied. The morphology is given in large part in terms of the absence of features that define other closely related tribes. Biological information is now available for five Argogorytes species, but even for these there is little evidence on nest structure and prey. No biological information is known for the two North American Argogorytes species.

Argogorytes nigrifrons is a medium-sized sand wasp. It occurs in the United States and southern Canada east of the Great Plains.

The body is black with yellow markings. It is similar in appearance to a potter or mason wasp.

There are two large compound eyes on the sides of the head and three simple eyes (ocelli) in a triangle on top of the head (vertex). The inner margins of the compound eyes are nearly parallel. The ocelli are not depressed below the surrounding surface of the vertex. The middle ocellus lens is present and more or less rounded. The jaws (mandibles) are not notched on the underside.

On the upper side of the thorax, the large middle plate (scutum) does not have a complete V shaped line (notalus). The oblique ridge (carina) on each side toward the rear is absent.

On the underside of the rear part of the body (metasoma), the first plate (sternite) has a single carina at the base. On the male the metasoma has six visible segments, and there is no prong at the tip.

The last part of each leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, has a pair of claws at the tip. The claws are simple, not split. On the female, the fourth leg segment (tibia) has two spurs at the tip.

On the forewing, the dark cell on the leading edge (stigma) is moderately large. The marginal cell is not bent away from the wing margin. There are three submarginal cells. The second submarginal cell is not petiolate.

Nests are created in the ground in sandy habitats.

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Subfamily
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.

Subtribe
The genus Argogorytes was formerly placed in the subtribe Argogorytina. A recent cladistic analysis of the tribe Bembicini (Nemkov and OHL, 2011) merged it (synonymized it) with the subtribe Exeirina.

There is no common name for this species. The common name of the tribe Bembicini is sand wasps, and it is used here for convenience.

Location: Woodbury, MN