Tonight’s challenge is a straightforward whatsit.
So. Whatsit?
I will award points to the first correct entries as follows: Order (2 points); Family (2 points); Genus (2 points); Species (2 points); Sex (2 points).
The cumulative points winner for the month of March will win their choice of:
1) A guest post here on Myrmecos
2) Any 8×10 print from my insect photography galleries
3) A myrmecos t-shirt
Good luck!
11 comments on Monday Night Mystery
Order Hymenoptera! 😀
Male ant. I would call this a Mystrium. I would also want to collect it SO BADLY. 😀
As usual, oops. Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Amblyoponinae: XMAS clade. I don’t know where the photo was taken, and I don’t know if you’ve been to Madagscar, but I will guess Mystrium mysticum.
You know, this is actually straight torture. I can’t see the petiole, the rest of the metasoma, the tibial spurs, or the clypeus (all of which would help me confirm anything beyond my gut-feeling gestalt). I revise my species guess as M. camillae.
Hymenoptera, family Myrmosidae, but some put it into Mutillidae. Myrmosa is the genus. Male.
Possibly Myrmosa atra.
For some reason, gestalt-wise, this reminds me of a mutillid/sphecid cross, although I think characters are wrong for the latter.
Im going to guess Sphecidae just cuz no one has, although I think Mark’s got it.
I’m guessing family – Apidae, group – Nomadinae, genus – Phew…
Bouldi is correct. I have collected many Mystrium camillae males at NT, Australia, and they are just like it but light brown.
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