Party of Three. Cerceris rybyensis, Ornate-tailed Digger Wasp, on Hoary Alyssum, Berteroa incana, Océ-weerd, Meuse Corridor, Venlo, The Nethrlands
Here's what I wrote earlier in these pages about this pretty Wasp: on June 26, 1771 Daniel Henricus Söderberg (1750-1781) defended his dissertation Pandora et Flora Rybyensis under the aegis of great Linnaeus. The booklet is more or less a listing of the insects and flowers found in the area of Öster Ryby, west of Stockholm. Now and then explicating footnotes are added to the listed names; this is the case with our Ornate-tailed Digger or Bee-killer Wasp, called as yet Sphex rybyensis (footnote m on p.88). At the beginning of the nineteenth century Pierre André Latreille (1762-1833) renamed this Sphex, Cerceris. In the literature our Rybyensis is usually denoted with 'Linnaeus, 1771'; presumably that's because dissertations of their students in that age were often 'attributed' to their supervisors, in this case Linnaeus.
In the photo you can see clearly that male Diggers are smaller, sometimes quite a bit, than their desired companions.
Party of Three. Cerceris rybyensis, Ornate-tailed Digger Wasp, on Hoary Alyssum, Berteroa incana, Océ-weerd, Meuse Corridor, Venlo, The Nethrlands
Here's what I wrote earlier in these pages about this pretty Wasp: on June 26, 1771 Daniel Henricus Söderberg (1750-1781) defended his dissertation Pandora et Flora Rybyensis under the aegis of great Linnaeus. The booklet is more or less a listing of the insects and flowers found in the area of Öster Ryby, west of Stockholm. Now and then explicating footnotes are added to the listed names; this is the case with our Ornate-tailed Digger or Bee-killer Wasp, called as yet Sphex rybyensis (footnote m on p.88). At the beginning of the nineteenth century Pierre André Latreille (1762-1833) renamed this Sphex, Cerceris. In the literature our Rybyensis is usually denoted with 'Linnaeus, 1771'; presumably that's because dissertations of their students in that age were often 'attributed' to their supervisors, in this case Linnaeus.
In the photo you can see clearly that male Diggers are smaller, sometimes quite a bit, than their desired companions.