This visitor had found a spot in an old Lilac stem. It is a male wasp from the Diggerwasp (Crabronidae) family of the genus Crossocerus, C. annulipes [1,2].
This species is recognizable based on the broadend first segment in the foot of the front leg, the tarsus [2].
Some other representants of the family in the Netherlands have broadend tarsus segments:
- C. palmipes has starkly a broadend segment
- C. cetratus’ tarsus segment and shin are starkly swollen
- C. tarsatus’ tarsus segments are similar to C. annulipes but the legs have a striking yellowish colored pattern
Note the orange colored knots in the photo which are mites.
Most wasps in this family hunt on flies, this species has also small cicadae (Cicadellidae), Jumping plant lice (Psylloidea) and small bugs, like mirid bugs (Miridae) on its menu.
Literature
1 Peeters, T.M.J., C. van Achterberg, W.R.B. Heitmans, W.F. Klein, V. Lefeber, A.J. van Loon, A.A. Mabelis, H. Nieuwen-huijsen, M. Reemer, J. de Rond, J. Smit, H.H.W. Velthuis, 2004. De wespen en mieren van Nederland (Hymenoptera: Aculeata). – Nederlandse Fauna 6. Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Naturalis, Leiden, knnv Uitgeverij, Utrecht & European Invertebrate Survey – Nederland, Leiden.2 Hermann Dollfuss, "Bestimmungsschlüssel der Grabwespen Nord- und Zentraleuropas (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae) mit speziellen Angaben zur Grabwespenfauna Österreichs", Publikation der Botanischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft am O.Ö.Landesmuseum Linz, LINZ, 20. Dezember 1991