Once you start looking for wasps, you see them everywhere. My back yard supports several different species, from several different wasp families, with more appearing almost every day. My latest find is Zethus slossonae, from the Vespidae family, subfamily Eumeninae.
It’s an attractive wasp with head and thorax in black with yellow markings and a rather bulbous abdomen in burgundy:
It was named in 1892 by Fox for the Connecticut author and entomologist Annie Trumbull Slosson.
According to Eric Grissell, this species is endemic to Florida south of Orlando, which means it’s found nowhere else in the world. Despite this range restriction, which one might think would make it relatively easy to study, virtually nothing is known of its nesting habits or other biology. Therefore it’s hard to say what impact it has on the backyard garden or farm field. But, again according to Grissell,
since members of the genus provision their nests with lepidopterous larvae (including Geometridae and Gelechioidea), many of which are considered pests, Zethus should provisionally be considered beneficial.
I see these guys all the time nectaring at my flowers, so I’m going to assume there’s some sort of pollination going on, in addition to any control of pesty larvae that might be eating my plants.
References
Grissell, E.E. (2007). Mason wasps of Florida, Zethus spp. (Insecta: Hypmentopera: Vespidae: Eumeninae)
Nadel, H. (2005). Review of IFKOVIC, E. 2004. The Life and Works of Writer Annie Trumbull Slosson – a Connecticut Local Colorist. Florida Entomologist 88:3:344-5.