Pepsis mildei information

Pepsis mildei
	San Benito County, California, nectaring on milkweed
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Pompilidae
Subfamily:	Pepsinae
Genus:	Pepsis
Species:	P. mildei
Binomial name
	Pepsis mildei; (Stål, 1857)
Synonyms
	Pepsis hesperiæ

Pepsis mildei, also known as Milde's tarantula-hawk wasp, is a species of predatory spider wasp native to the Western Hemisphere. These wasps capture live tarantulas to feed to their larva; the adults graze on flowers.^[1] Tarantula hawks generally have no meaningful predators.^[2] The wing color is black and/or orange, with rare leucistic wing coloration known in males.^[3]^[4] The wings of P. mildei are duller overall than those of Pepsis grossa or Pepsis cinnabarina.^[5] Per Edward Essig, Milde's tarantula-hawk wasp usually measures 20–30 millimeters in length and is a metallic blue-black overall, with "the antennae reddish, dusky at extreme base in the male and the basal third dusky in the female; the wings fiery red with the bases and apices dusky".^[5] In all tarantula wasps, the antennae can be used to distinguish between males and female: males are straight or gently arced, while the females have curved antennae.^[6] The lifespan of males is one to two months, while female Milde's tarantula-hawk wasps live for a longer span of time.^[1]

^ ^a ^b "Pepsis Wasp Fact Sheet". www.desertmuseum.org. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
^ Schmidt, Justin O. (2004). "Venom and the Good Life in Tarantula Hawks (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): How to Eat, Not Be Eaten, and Live Long". Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 77 (4): 402–413. doi:10.2317/E-39.1. ISSN 0022-8567. JSTOR 25086231. S2CID 86401017.
^ "Species Pepsis mildei - Milde's Tarantula-hawk Wasp". bugguide.net. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b "Insects of western North America : a manual and textbook for students in colleges and universities and a handbook for county, state and federal entomologists ..." HathiTrust. pp. 883–884. hdl:2027/iau.31858046836296. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
^ Hogue, Charles L.; Hogue, James N. (2015). Insects of the Los Angeles Basin (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. p. 359. ISBN 978-0938644-44-6. OCLC 910654655.

[:2-1] "Pepsis Wasp Fact Sheet". www.desertmuseum.org. Retrieved 2023-10-27.

[2] Schmidt, Justin O. (2004). "Venom and the Good Life in Tarantula Hawks (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): How to Eat, Not Be Eaten, and Live Long". Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 77 (4): 402–413. doi:10.2317/E-39.1. ISSN 0022-8567. JSTOR 25086231. S2CID 86401017.

[3] "Species Pepsis mildei - Milde's Tarantula-hawk Wasp". bugguide.net. Retrieved 2023-10-27.

[:1-4] Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[:0-5] "Insects of western North America : a manual and textbook for students in colleges and universities and a handbook for county, state and federal entomologists ..." HathiTrust. pp. 883–884. hdl:2027/iau.31858046836296. Retrieved 2023-10-27.

[LAbugs-2015-6] Hogue, Charles L.; Hogue, James N. (2015). Insects of the Los Angeles Basin (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. p. 359. ISBN 978-0938644-44-6. OCLC 910654655.