Spanish Wasp

Size about 15mm. Large wasp. Having documented wasp species in the hundreds, I am still waiting for that moment where I got the impression that it is easier to find a familiar wasp than a personal new species. The abundance of wasps in our garden alone is phenomenal. This wasp had headed straight for our ruccola lettuce. I am pretty sure it was looking for caterpillars. Quite frankly, I am a bit embarrassed that the wasp open my eyes to this plant being full of tiny caterpillars. This is the place where I photographed tiny insects and the caterpillars eluded me. Only after long and thorough checks I found the small caterpillars - in numbers. This wasp is vibrant in colours. The name that I made up is supposed to reflect that. The thorax is pitch black and bumpy. Its wings are exceptionally short, only cover two thirds of its abdomen. The wing base is orange-yellow. The waist is narrow and long, black on the upper side, going into yellow on the underside. The abdomen starts black banded at the top, but merges into a vibrant red-orange for the rest with thick yellow on the underside, also going into orange-red. The legs are long, especially the hind legs. The two front leg are yellow with a hint of orange while the hind legs are reddish-orange. All legs have black bases. The lateral compound eyes are nicely formed on a narrow head. Its 'beard' is orange. Antennae are long and uniformly dark, with a orange base. The stinger is bent and pointing upwards and is of medium length. I will need to follow up on its taxonomy and might rename it at some stage.