Ceropales bipunctata
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Ceropales bipunctata is a species of diurnal, kleptoparasitic spider wasp in the family Pompilidae. It is an obligate kleptoparasite, meaning that it must rely on the captured provisions of other spider wasps and cannot capture its own. It is found on the Atlantic Coast of North America, north to New Brunswick, Canada. It feeds on nectar primarily from goldenrods (especially Canada goldenrod), and also other common nectaring plants. It is known to lay an egg on the prey of other pompilids, including the two species Anoplius cleora and Anoplius aethiops. Eggs are laid in the book lung of the spider. These wasps also sometimes lay an egg on prey from spider-hunting wasps in the family Sphecidae.
This species is usually characterized by the one cream colored dot on either side of the thorax. This subspecies is more black, though it still has the distinctive cream colored spot. The main difference is in that the two pairs of short legs are all red/pink, and the whole femur on the long pairs are red.
Most pictures of the species as a whole are of this subspecies, and the specimen in the photos... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Ceropales bipunctata sighting in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 447th most-seen of the 723 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September to November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Ceropales bipunctata in Shenandoah National Park on a given day, against under 5% in December to August, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ceropales bipunctata sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Shenandoah National Park, in our data
Shenandoah National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Ceropales bipunctata sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ceropales bipunctata is recorded against all the insects logged in Shenandoah National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
