Orange-collared Spider Wasp - Ferreola handschini
Family POMPILIDAE
This page contains pictures and information about Orange-collar Spider Wasps that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 20mm
- This wasp is medium size, blue-black in colour with blue-black tinted wings and orange-yellow pro thorax. It was hunting on trees and grasses with wing and antenna flicking movement, the special characteristic of spider wasp.
- Also notice the two prominent spurs on the legs. We saw this wasp once in Daisy Hills near Buhot creek on Dec 2009.
- The wasp was flying about one meter above ground. It stopped and check after flying every two to three meters. It stopped at a point only for about 1-2 seconds. We chased the wasp for a few tens of meters and took the above photos.
- Found this wasp again in Ford Road Research Area on Mar 2010. This is one of the most beautiful insects we ever saw.
- Reference:
- 1. Northern Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
- 2. Ferreola sp. Pompilidae - Insects of Townsville, Australia - Graeme Cocks, 2004.
- 3. What wasp is that? - An interactive identification guide to the Australasian families of Hymenoptera, 2007.
- 4. The "collaris" complex of Australian mimetic Pompilidae (Hymenoptera) - Evans, H.E., Pacific insects, July 15, 1982. v. 24 (2).
