Diogmites platypterus. The dark black Diogmites. Smoky dark wings. Looks amazingly like a dark wasp when flying low and close to the vegetation. No other Diogmites in our state looks like this. I vote its name as Stygian Hanging Thief when the committee gets together.

One leg hang while feeding. These small bees and wasps hardly seem worth the effort but I often see them taken anyway. Note the lighter leg colors and the bright yellow halteres (the projections in front of the wings).

One leg hang while feeding again. Small bee again. This one was doing the rather odd maneuver of stretching the prey item all the way out and then drawing it back in again in a slow cycle. I have no idea what this accomplished unless this is a near-sighted robber. It is possible it could be a mating lure and he was trying to bring in a female Diogmites. I did not witness a success if so.

This Diogmites that seemed not quite as dark as the platypterus. Norm seems to be finding these in NE Arkansas and I have not seen them centrally yet. We thought they were basalis but it looks like they are a faded form of platypterus. Jeff Barnes did some dissections to comfirm they were equivalent. Darkish abdomen with a lighter thorax and black bristles. D. basalis is still not confirmed for AR.