Subject: Not sure if it’s a wasp
Geographic location of the bug: Mombasa, Kenya
Date: 12/30/2019
Time: 10:33 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: I’ve been wanting to post here for a while. I’m Kenyan and our bugs are not available on the internet as much as in Western or Asian countries. Since I live in a coastal area, I see so many insects that I would love to have identified. My home area has a lot pf insects that usually find their way into the house. I found my sister, Sian, had killed this one and upon closer inspection wanted to know if it’s a spider wasp, a great black wasp or even a wasp at all (though it has the tell tale slim “waist”). The species I found online of the spider wasp all have antennae that are brightly colored but this one only had orange tips. I thought it was a great black wasp, because of the sudden increase in grasshopper populations, but most sites say they are large and have no colored antennae. The body is hairy (including the abdomen) and shiny and it has “gradient” wings which change between a dark blue to black depending on the angle. Hoping to post more bugs in future…
How you want your letter signed: Danson, future regular poster…
Dear Danson,
This is definitely a wasp, but it is not a Spider Wasp. In our opinion, it is a Flower Wasp or Scarab Hunter in the family Scoliidae, a group that preys upon the underground grubs of large Scarab Beetles, and Africa has numerous species of large Scarab Beetles, so there is a food supply for the Scarab Hunter Wasps. We have not had any luck providing you with a species match. According to BugGuide, a North American site, Scarab Hunter Wasps are “Robust, hairy, medium-sized to large.” We look forward to your future submissions.
Thank you very much for the fast response… I’ll definitely post more…and you’re right, I think it’s a species of flower wasp…