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Java atropus (Smith)

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera; Superfamily: Pompiloidea; Family: Pompilidae; Subfamily: Pepsinae; Genus: Java)

Mygnimia atropos Smith, 1855.

Photograph © Duncan Butchart.

Shingwedzi camp, Kruger National Park. Photograph © Dave West (Randburg).

Distribution

Botswana, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Also South East Asia.

Biology

Females hunt and paralyse large spiders such as Rain spiders (Palystes).

Reference

Wahis, R. 2000. Revision des especes afrotropicales, indo-orientales et australiennes du genre Java Pate 1946 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae, Pepsinae). Notes Fauniques de Gembloux 38, 43-76.

Credits

Photographs © Duncan Butchart, or Dave West (Randburg).

Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2025. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

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