Anoplius semicinctus (Dahlbom)

Kurczewski, Frank E. & West, Rick C., 2023, Evaluation of North American spider wasp (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) common names, Insecta Mundi 2023 (989), pp. 1-8 : 3

Anoplius semicinctus (Dahlbom) (Half-belted blue-black spider wasp)

Six words is excessively lengthy for a common name! Blue-black is uninformative as numerous spider wasp species are this color. The Latin name semicinctus means “half girdle” or “half belt” and probably refers to the second tergite of the metasoma having a broad band of orange that is partly emarginate medially ( Evans 1951; Fig. 1 ). However, such a taxonomic characteristic occurs in several dozen species of Anoplius Dufour , Ammosphex Wilcke , Arachnospila Kincaid and Psorthaspis brimleyi (Malloch) and is clearly not species-specific for Anoplius semicinctus .

Figures

Figures 1–6.Habitus photos of North American Pompilidae. 1) Anoplius semicinctus female, Marlboro, Windham County, VT, USA. Photograph © Tom Murray. 2) Caliadurgus fasciatellus female, Rockville, Hanover County, VA, USA. Photograph © Louise Woodrich. 3) Ceropales bipunctata bipunctata female, Hatfield, Hampshire County, MA, USA. Photograph © Sloan Tomlinson. 4) Ceropales maculata fraterna female, Groton, Middlesex County, MA, USA. Photograph © Tom Murray. 5) Entypus fulvicornis male, Fiddler’s Creek Preserve, Mercer County, Titusville, NJ, USA. Photograph © Seth Ausubel. 6) Entypus unifasciatus cressoni female, Garland, Dallas County, TX, USA. Photograph © Tracey Fandre.