''Arachnospila consobrina'' is a little-known

Palaearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

spider wasp Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary (with the exception of some group-ne ...

Description

Like other members of the sub-genus ''Ammosphex'' this is a medium-sized red and black spider wasp. The males have a quite distinctive genital plate, but females are very similar to related species such as '' A. anceps'' and '' A.trivialis'' but can be identified by their relatively hairier head.

Distribution

Northern and central Europe, marginally in southern Britain, and also Africa and Asia.

Biology

''A consobrina'' is single brooded, flying in July and August. The only observation of ''A. consobrina'' with prey concerns a female found under a stone near

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

carrying a ''

Segestria florentina ''Segestria florentina'' is the largest European segestriid spider. Some vernacular names are green-fanged tube web spider and cellar spider, although the latter is not exclusive to this species. Description Females can reach a body length of 2 ...

'' which was reported in Fahringer.Fahringer, J. 1922. Hymenopterologische Ergebnisse einer wissenschaft lichen Studienreise nach der Turkei und Kleinasien (mit A usschluss des A manusgebirges). Archiv far Naturgeschichte, 88 A, Heft 9, 149-222 The nesting biology of ''A. consobrina'' is almost completely unknown, but like other '' Arachnospila'' species in the sub-genus ''Ammosphex'' it is adapted to digging in loose sandy soils.

References

Hymenoptera of Europe Pompilinae Insects described in 1843 Taxa named by Anders Gustaf Dahlbom {{apocrita-stub