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Unidentified

Photo by thewndrr
Published on Project Noah
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6.35834, 80.489

Field Notes

Description:

Sphex subtruncatus(male)? Info suggest that some males have entirely black legs in this species, and the other three Sphex that can be found in Sri Lanka doesn't resemble this spotting. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/502822-Sphex-subtruncatus https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?locale=en-US&place_id=7077&tax…

Habitat:

Sinharaja Forest Reserve is one of the last primary rainforests in Sri Lanka and is a biodiversity hotspot, it was established as a World Biosphere Reserve in 1978, and a World Heritage site in 1988 by UNESCO. More than 60% of the trees are endemic, it's also home to 50% of Sri Lanka's endemic species of animals and 95% of the endemic birds of the country. Surrounded in dense fog, the dangerous, dark and mysterious Sinharaja forest is steeped in deep legend and mystery. The word Sinharaja means lion- (සිංහ/சிங்கம் sinha) king or kingdom (රාජ/ராஜா raja), and a popular folk legend has it that a legendary lion lived in this protected forest. 60% of the forest is contained within the border of Rathnapura District, 20% in the Galle District, and 20% in Kaluthara District. The forest is likely to have formed during the Jurassic era and spans over an area of 360 km², it is the most dense rainforest in Asia with 240,000 plants per hectare. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinharaja_Forest_Reserve

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (2)

Thank you Mark Ridgway, to me it looks like S. argentatus has more of the white hairs covering the torso and head than my spotting. I'm still routing for S. subtruncatus mainly because I spotted another of the same species not far from each other, the other one was definitely a female. https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/1016267537
Although not on the official SL lists? you might look into Sphex argentatus https://spain.inaturalist.org/observations/63369750

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