Plate XXXIX. fig. 6.
ORDER: Hymenoptera. SECTION: Fossores. FAMILY: Pompilidæ.
GENUS. PEPSIS, _Fabr. Latr._ Sphex, _Linn. Drury_.
PEPSIS RUBRA. Corpore pedibusque nigro cyaneis, antennis nigris, alis
rufis apice albis. (Long. Corp. 1 unc.)
SYN. Sphex rubra, _Drury, App. vol._ 2.
Pepsis Speciosa, _Fabr. Ent. Syst._ 2. 217. 83. _Syst. Piez._ 215. 45.
_Pal. Beauv. Ins. d'Afr. et d'Amer. Hym. Pl._ 2. _f._ 5.
HABITAT: Antigua (_Drury_). Saint Domingo (_Pal. Beauv._).
Head and antennæ black; it has four palpi, no tongue, but strong jaws.
Ocelli distinct. Thorax, abdomen, and all the legs deep mazarine blue,
nearly black. Wings red; the tips being transparent. Legs furnished with
spines at the tips of the tibiæ; the fore ones having only one, all the
rest two.
Fabricius (Syst. Piez. 214. 33.) refers this figure to the Sphex coerulea
of Linnæus, which differs in having the wings ferruginous but black at the
base ("basi nigræ," Linn.) and {85}white at the tips, and in the antennæ,
being ferruginous at the tips. It is to be observed that Linnæus has
described two species under the name of Sphex coerulea, the first belonging
to the genus Pelopæus, and being the Sphex cyanea of Fabricius; and the
second, above noticed, and being the auripennis of De Geer, which latter
name, in order to prevent all confusion arising from the employment of the
name of coerulea, it would be desirable to adopt.