Sphecidae

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Spheciformes.

Sphecidae
Ammophila pubescens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Superfamily: Apoidea
Family: Sphecidae
(Latreille, 1802)
Subfamilies

Ammophilinae

Chloriontinae

Sceliphrinae
Sphecinae

Podalonia sp.
Isodontia larva

The Sphecidae are a cosmopolitan family of wasps of the suborder Apocrita that includes sand wasps, mud daubers, and other thread-waisted wasps.

The name Sphecidae was formerly given to a much larger grouping of wasps. This was found to be

paraphyletic, so most of the old subfamilies have been moved to the Crabronidae
.

Biology

The biology of the Sphecidae, even under the restricted definition, is still fairly diverse; some sceliphrines even display rudimentary forms of

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

Heterogynaidae nests within the Bembicidae, as here defined.[1] These findings differ in several details from studies published by two other sets of authors in 2017,[2][3]
though all three studies demonstrate a paraphyletic "Crabronidae."

Apoidea

Ampulicidae

Astatidae

Bembicidae

Sphecidae (

sensu stricto
)

sensu stricto
)

Mellinidae

Family Sphecidae (sensu stricto)

Sceliphrinae: Sceliphron spirifex
Sceliphrinae: Chalybion californicum
Sphecinae: Sphex funerarius with prey
A gold-marked thread-waisted wasp flying near blooming yellow ironweed.
A Sphecidae wasp, probably Sceliphron caementarium, investigates two squash bugs, but doesn’t attempt capture to provision its nest.

The old digger wasp family Sphecidae (

sensu stricto) which is a monophyletic clade.[1]

Subfamily Ammophilinae

Subfamily

Chloriontinae

Subfamily Sceliphrinae

Subfamily Sphecinae

Both of the historical definitions of the Sphecidae (a conservative one, where all the sphecoid wasps other than ampulicids and heterogynaids were in a single large family, and a more refined one, where the seven large sphecid subfamilies were each elevated to family rank) have recently been shown to be

paraphyletic
, and the most recent classification is closer to the refined scheme; there are now seven families in addition to the Sphecidae and Crabronidae, all of which were formerly placed within Sphecidae.

Family Crabronidae

All the other digger wasp taxa that were formerly included in Sphecidae (sensu lato) were placed in the family Crabronidae, which was itself paraphyletic, and recent classifications have split Crabronidae into a number of smaller families, mostly formerly treated as subfamilies.[1]

References

  1. ^
    PMID 29776336
    .
  2. PMID 28376325
    .
  3. PMID 28343967
    .

Sources

  • Goulet, H., Huber, J.T. (1993) Hymenoptera of the World. Agriculture Canada Research Branch, publication 1894/E. 668pp.
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