''Tastiotenia festiva'' is a species of

spider wasp Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary (with the exception of some group-ne ...

in the subfamily

Pompilinae The Pompilinae are a subfamily of the spider wasp family, Pompilidae Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamil ...

. It was first described by its discoverer,

Howard Ensign Evans Howard Ensign Evans (February 23, 1919 – July 18, 2002) was an American entomologist who was a specialist on wasps. He was also the author of several popular works on entomology including ''Life on a Little-known Planet'' (1978), ''The Pleasure ...

, in 1950. It is a rather small spider wasp species, growing from 3–6.5 mm in length and has only been observed rarely. It lives in the desert regions of the south-western United States (southern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

to western

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

) as well as northern Mexico ( Sonora and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

).Wasbauer, M.S. and L.S. Kimsey. 1985. California spider wasps of the subfamily pompilinae. Bull. California Insect Survey vol. 26:1-130. University of California Press, Berkeley (p. 23). Based on Evans' biological observation in 1961, it is assumed that ''Tastiotenia festiva'' consumes black widow spiders as part of its diet and that it utilizes burrows made by other wasps for nesting.

References

Pompilinae Insects described in 1808 {{apocrita-stub