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- Arthropods/
- Insects/
- Narrow-waisted Wasps, Ants, and Bees/
- Ants, Bees, and Stinging Wasps/
Thread-waisted Wasps
family infraorder “Ants, Bees, and Stinging Wasps“
1 family, 4 species
The Sphecidae family, which includes various species, has diverse biology. Some species have rudimentary forms of sociality and rear multiple larvae in a single brood cell. They nest in pre-existing cavities, dig burrows, or construct nests of mud or resin. They are predatory and parasitoidal, preying on different types of insects such as spiders, orthopteroids, and larvae. Phylogenetic studies have shown that the Sphecidae and bees (Anthophila) evolved from within the Crabronidae family, leading to the suggestion of splitting the Crabronidae into multiple families.
Hierarchy
species of family “Thread-waisted Wasps“
1 species
species of family “Thread-waisted Wasps“
1 species
Biology#
The biology of the Sphecidae, even under the restricted definition, is still fairly diverse; some sceliphrines even display rudimentary forms of sociality, and some sphecines rear multiple larvae in a single large brood cell. Many nest in pre-existing cavities, or dig simple burrows in the soil, but some species construct free-standing nests of mud and even (in one genus) resin. All are predatory and parasitoidal, but the type of prey ranges from spiders to various dictyopterans, orthopteroids and larvae of either Lepidoptera or other Hymenoptera; the vast majority practice mass provisioning, providing all the prey items prior to laying the egg.
Phylogeny#
This phylogenetic tree is based on Sann et al., 2018, which used phylogenomics to demonstrate that both the bees (Anthophila) and the Sphecidae arose from within the former Crabronidae, which is therefore paraphyletic, and which they suggested should be split into several families; the former family Heterogynaidae nests within the Bembicidae, as here defined. These findings differ in several details from studies published by two other sets of authors in 2017, though all three studies demonstrate a paraphyletic “Crabronidae.”
Sources#
Goulet, H., Huber, J.T. (1993) Hymenoptera of the World. Agriculture Canada Research Branch, publication 1894/E. 668pp.
External links#
Catalog of Sphecidae sensu lato at Cal Academy Online Identification Guide to Eastern North American Sphecidae Biology of Australian Sphecidae Image Gallery
The Sphecidae family, which includes various species, has diverse biology. Some species have rudimentary forms of sociality and rear multiple larvae in a single brood cell. They nest in pre-existing cavities, dig burrows, or construct nests of mud or resin. They are predatory and parasitoidal, preying on different types of insects such as spiders, orthopteroids, and larvae. Phylogenetic studies have shown that the Sphecidae and bees (Anthophila) evolved from within the Crabronidae family, leading to the suggestion of splitting the Crabronidae into multiple families.
Ancestry Graph
Further Information
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