Plate [XXXIX]. fig. 6.
Order: Hymenoptera. Section: Fossores. Family: Pompilidæ.
Genus. Pepsis, Fabr. Latr. Sphex, Linn. Drury.
Pepsis Rubra. Corpore pedibusque nigro cyaneis, antennis nigris, alis rufis apice albis. (Long. Corp. 1 unc.)
Syn. Sphex rubra, Drury, App. vol. 2.
Pepsis Speciosa, Fabr. Ent. Syst. 2. 217. 83. Syst. Piez. 215. 45. Pal. Beauv. Ins. d'Afr. et d'Amer. Hym. Pl. 2. f. 5.
Habitat: Antigua (Drury). Saint Domingo (Pal. Beauv.).
Head and antennæ black; it has four palpi, no tongue, but strong jaws. Ocelli distinct. Thorax, abdomen, and all the legs deep mazarine blue, nearly black. Wings red; the tips being transparent. Legs furnished with spines at the tips of the tibiæ; the fore ones having only one, all the rest two.
Fabricius (Syst. Piez. 214. 33.) refers this figure to the Sphex cœrulea of Linnæus, which differs in having the wings ferruginous but black at the base ("basi nigræ," Linn.) and white at the tips, and in the antennæ, being ferruginous at the tips. It is to be observed that Linnæus has described two species under the name of Sphex cœrulea, the first belonging to the genus Pelopæus, and being the Sphex cyanea of Fabricius; and the second, above noticed, and being the auripennis of De Geer, which latter name, in order to prevent all confusion arising from the employment of the name of cœrulea, it would be desirable to adopt.