What’s this?
Are we hallucinating, or is this really part of an insect?
Ten Myrmecos points will be awarded to the first person to guess the subject (Genus & species) of this entomological photograph. The cumulative points winner for the month of October will win their choice of 1) any 8×10-sized print from my photo galleries, or 2) a guest post here on Myrmecos.
Good luck!
Looks like the wing of a large bee – and with that metallic sheen I’d guess it’s a Xylocopidae. Xylocopa would be the genus and it’s probably X. californica from your recent trip to Arizona!
Hmm… I would say wing of a tarantula hawk, Pepsis mexicana
Oh yes, I haven’t thought about Xylocopa. It is a better match.
Gonna stick with Hymenoptera and guess Scolia dubia.
Scolia bicincta.
Scolia bicincta?
Chalybion californicum is my other guess…
I guess a hemelytra of a Hemiptera (oh well, hemielitro in my language). A Triatoma sanguisuga?
Chlorion aerarium wing – last guess, I promise! 🙂
At this point, I guess I have to drop a hint:
Scoliidae: Scolia sexmaculata?
That’s a hint?! Boy, am I out-foxed!
Ok, I’m leaning toward a carpenter bee of some sort, particularly if that is pollen on the hairs of the hint photo. I haven’t found anything that transitions from blue to orange like this wing, but maybe that’s a trick of the light, either reflected or showing through the end of the wing. Xylocopa violacea looks the most similar of the ones I was able to quickly scan through online.
Hmmm… you might be right, and especially after seeing the ‘hint’ I am leaning your way. Perhaps X. valga? The European carpenter bee’s wings also have similar colouration.
Megascolia procer?
Or…. Discolia soror
Still not guessed. Here’s a considerably more obvious photograph:
Oh I think I know what this is 🙂
Pompilidae: Anoplius illinoensis?
Is my next hint going to have to consist of large block letters spelling out the name, and hyperlinked to the original description?
Um, yes?
Sphex pensylvanicus.
I’m going to go with Isodontia mexicana
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