| Giant Spider-hunting Wasp (Pepsis inclyta) Lepeletier, 1845 |
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Pepsis inclyta is one of the largest known members of the family Pompilidae; body length of female may exceed 50 mm. This species is common in southern Brazil and northern Argentina, but it also ranges over most of tropical South America, ascending up to 2,600 m in northern Peru. Identification of most pompilid wasps requires a close examination of the various morphological features; our identification of this species as P. inclyta was based on the size, distribution, and coloration of the wing, body, legs, and antennae. Please see the footnote for more details.
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A note on identification:
We used the identification keys provided in Vardy (2000, 2002 and 2005), and made a list of all Pepsis species with the body length exceeding 50 mm and recorded in SE Brazil: P. albocincta, P. apicata, P. defecta, P. hyperion, P. inclyta, and P. sumptuosa. We ruled out P. apicata, P. defecta, P. hyperion, and P. sumptuosa because they have amber, orange and infuscate wings; additionally P. apicata and P. sumptuosa have red or golden body hair. Antennal and wing colour in the two remaining species, P. albocincta and P. inclyta, are highly variable, but the wing in P. albocincta is “always with a rather broad apical white margin ... at least weakly present” (Vardy 2000). Thus, by elimination, we concluded that the species in question is P. inclyta. It has been recorded in Rio de Janeiro, whereas P. albocincta has not been recorded in RJ per se (Vardy 2005).