No shortage of views but still not entirely comfortable with these to attempt species level
Revised ID: To species after reviewing a published account. Widespread in N. CA with a very good example found to do a visual comparison. Female
Will continue to work on the systematic to confirm ID
These are the first beewolves here. Two species seen previously were on the CA coast.
Revised ID: to species, female. 2nd photo added
Good candidate for this location is P. crabroniformis by visual comparison. However according to a distribution map in CIS 19 published 1975, it doesn't occur in the "Great Valley"
Other possibilities to look into:
P. multimaculatis
Resembles P. crabroniformis but smaller and yellower. Smaller size fits. Good visual match found, female
P. pacificus
Small, 9-10mm, visual match not found
P. ventilabris
Moderate size 12-14mm, visual match not found
P. ventralis
Large, 13-14mm, fall species. Probably can be eliminated from consideration
woohooo great find. a parasite wasp