#plumariidae

I've deleted my previous post, as I have redrawn the female Plumarius and this is my final attempt at colouring it. 36 of 48. I'm pretty happy with it. I did my best to document this wasp via limited, but decent references, and my own personal interpretation. This was definitely a challenge, but a fun one at least! Plumariids are distributed in arid and semi-arid areas of western South America and southern Africa. I don't know what my next wasp will be, but I'm sure it won't be as challenging as this one!

This is the start of my next wasp drawing, which will be very challenging. I'm very fascinated by the females of Plumariidae (Chrysidoidea), in fact, they seem to be so obscure and rare that there are no photos of any specimens online (other than one black and white scientific illustration). This one that I'm drawing is a female Plumarius sp. I was privately sent 2 reference photos of a specimen and I also have an old black and white illustration from a Hymenoptera book to work with. I find it peculiar that this particular wasp is so under-documented, at least in terms of visual material, such as photos. There must be some specimens in collections around the world, but it seems no one has ever taken a photo of one, or at least posted it online anyway! I'm intrigued to know if my drawing is accurate enough. I hope I've done a decent job, and I'm very excited to colour this one! Modifications will probably be inevitable, but this creative process is really inspiring and fun! For now, I've only drawn an outline in black pen to practice, but once the finished product is satisfactory, I will begin colouring. This should be interesting! I love the understudied, elusive weirdos of the wasp world! I welcome any constructive criticisms!

It seems like my concept may be approved. The formatting slightly changed, but will still look great! I will post a pic of the final result if everything goes according to plan. Here are the individual pictures for anyone interested. It's supposed to be a bunch of tired Hymenopterans attending a 24 hr virtual conference.

Not so elusive anymore now, are we! Females of Plumariidae are so obscure, that so far, there are no pictures online of any specimens, alive or dead. There are a couple of B&W scientific illustrations, but that is the extent of visual documentation, at least from what I've seen. Females are apterous and can be found underneath rocks, while the more common winged males are nocturnal and attracted to lights. Little is known of their biology. These wasps are distributed in arid and semi-arid areas of western South America and southern Africa.

Woo! Hymathon 2023 was an absolute blast! Lots of fascinating info and great presentations! It's great to be part of a community of people that have the same interests and level of passion!

I decided to draw another cartoon female Plumariid, but from top view. Small inaccuracies are possible since there are very limited resources around. I saw pictures of one for the first time this week. The model in my drawing is based from the pictures, but they will not be included in this post, as I didn't take them, and I don't want to prematurely release any information that will be further published. This is my take on it from what little I've seen. Absolutely fascinating wasps. Femora for days.