Sphex taschenbergi



Female provisioning her nest, excavated in sand at Ndumu Game Reserve (Kwazulu-Natal), with captured prey: Acacia Katydid (Terpnistria species). Photographs © Athol Marchant (Kwazulu-Natal). This specimen was originally incorrectly identified as Sphex decipiens when in fact it is Sphex taschenbergi Magretti, 1884 (determination by Thorleif Dörfel, Museum fuer Naturkunde, Berlin). The very conspicuous basal infuscation of the wings on the specimen in these photos is typical of only S. fumicatus and S. taschenbergi. Sphex decipiens has the wings uniformly black. Sphex taschenbergi can be distinguished from S. fumicatus by having the erect facial setae black instead of silvery (pers. comm. Thorleif Dörfel, Museum fuer Naturkunde, Berlin 2020).

Distribution	Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Namibia, South Africa, Southern Arabian Peninsula, Yemen. Also Palaearctic region: Oman, United Arab Emirates.
Biology	Excavate nests in soil and are mostly gregarious. Colonies may exist for many years. They prey on grasshoppers (Orthoptera) in the family Tettigoniidae, and less often crickets in the families Gryllacrididae and Gryllidae (Bohart & Menke, 1976).
References	Bohart, R.M. & Menke, A. S. 1976. Sphecid Wasps of the World: a Generic Revision. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. Brothers D.J. 1999. Phylogeny and evolution of wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera, Chrysidoidea, Vespoidea and Apoidea) Zoologica Scripta 28: 233–250. Finnamore, A.T. & Michener, C.D. 1993. Superfamily Apoidea (pp. 279-357). In GOULET, H. & HUBER, J. (eds). Hymenoptera of the World: an identification guide to families. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp.
Links	CATALOG OF WORLD SPHECIDAE sensu lato (= Apoidea excluding bees) compiled by Wojciech J. Pulawski (California Academy of Sciences).
Credits	Photographs © Athol Marchant (Kwazulu-Natal).

Sphex taschenbergi Kohl