Wasp
Wasps first appeared in the fossil record in the Jurassic, and diversified into many surviving superfamilies by the Cretaceous. They are a successful and diverse group of insects with tens of thousands of described species; wasps have spread to all parts of the world except for the polar regions. The largest social wasp is the Asian giant hornet, at up to in length; among the largest solitary wasps is a group of species known as tarantula hawks, along with the giant scoliid of Indonesia ("Megascolia procer"). The smallest wasps are solitary chalcid wasps in the family Mymaridae, including the world's smallest known insect, with a body length of only , and the smallest known flying insect, only long.
Poecilopompilus algidus
"P. algidus" is 13–28 mm in length with females usually larger than males and in some areas it is a mainly black wasp with a red spot on the metasoma. However, the wasps of the genus "Poecilopompilus" may be Müllerian mimics of other wasps and that the variation in appearance of "P.algidus" over its range is due to it mimicking other sympatric wasps with painful stings, for example it resembles the paper wasps in the genus "Polistes" in the south, and thus be difficult to distinguish from its congener "Poecilopompilus interruptus", but in the northern part of its range, it mimics the spider wasps of the geuus "Anoplius". To identify the two species, the observer needs to examine the spines on the front tarsi of females and the inner margin of the eyes, "P. algidus" females have 3 strong spines and the species shows convergent inner eye margins, while "P. interruptus" shows four weak spines on the front tarsi in females and parallel inner eye margins.