Stizus vespiformis (Fabricius 1775)

Stizus vespiformis (Fabricius)

Sphex vespiformis Fabricius, 1775:348 [; India orientali; lectotype in Copenhagen Museum]; 1782:447 [Malabar].—Christ, 1791:263 [listed].

Tiphia vespiformis (Fabricius).—Fabricius, 1787:278 [listed].—Gmelin, 1790:2740 [listed].

Larra vespiformis (Fabricius).—Fabricius, 1793:220 [listed]; 1804:219 [listed].—Pate, 1937:34 [cited as type-species of Larra Smith, 1856, not Fabricius, 1793].

Stizus vespiformis (Fabricius).—Jurine, 1807:178 [].—Le Peletier and Audinet-Serville, in Latreille et al., 1825:496 [listed].—Dahlbom, 1843–1845:154, 479 [, ].—Le Peletier, 1845:297 [].—Handlirsch, 1892:147–148 [, ; India, Ceylon, Mauritius; redescription]; 1895:1041 [listed].—Dalla Torre, 1897:534 [listed].—Bingham, 1897:277–278 [, ; India; redescription].—Gussakovskij, 1933:392 [; eastern Persia].—Vecht, 1961:53 [notes on lectotype; India. Ceylon].—Bohart and Menke, 1976:527 [India, Mauritius, Sri Lanka].

Stizolarra vespiformis (Fabricius).—Pate, 1937:62 [cited as type-species of Stizolarra Saussure, 1887].

We did not collect this species in Sri Lanka but F. Keiser, Basel Museum, collected a specimen on flowers at Kuchchaveli, Trincomalee District, 4 July 1953 (Vecht, 1961). It is readily distinguished from S. rufescens (Smith) by the totally infuscated wings, the black thorax and abdomen except pronotum and basal and apical abdominal segments, and the absence of yellow markings on the head, thorax, and abdomen. The description that follows is based on specimens from South India.

Stizus vespiformis is known from the Indian subcontinent, Iran, and Mauritius.

Length 18–25 mm (), 17–18 mm (). Color black, the following darker red than in S. rufescens, almost chestnut: basal half of mandible, all of antenna and head except latter beneath, pronotum, scutum with a small anterolateral spot in Ceylonese specimen only, fore leg except coxa and trochanter, and abdominal segments two through five () or six () except for dark blotches on sterna. Wings infuscated.