Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Bees, Ants, and other Stinging Wasps » Apoid Wasps (Apoidea)- traditional Sphecidae » Crabronidae » Square-headed Wasps (Crabroninae)

Subfamily Crabroninae - Square-headed Wasps

I'm figuring Crabronini here. Am I right? - Ectemnius

Little Wasp ID Request - Ectemnius scaber

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)

No Taxon (Aculeata - Bees, Ants, and other Stinging Wasps)

No Taxon (Apoid Wasps (Apoidea)- traditional Sphecidae)

Family Crabronidae

Subfamily Crabroninae (Square-headed Wasps)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

formerly placed in family Sphecidae; transferred to Crabronidae by Prentice (1998) and Melo (1999) - see PDF doc by Pulawski in Internet References section below

Numbers

4,568 species in the world

4,623 species according to California Academy

Size

body length 6-20 mm

Identification

Large and quadrate head, with the inner margins of the eyes straight and converging ventrally. Forewing has only one submarginal cell.

Habitat

Adults commonly found on flowers.

Remarks

Some nest in hollow stems or in abandoned galleries in wood, others burrow in the ground. The principal prey is flies, but some utilize various other types of insects.

Print References

(1)

Internet References

classification; PDF doc of superfamily Apoidea (Wojciech Pulawski, 2006, California Academy of Sciences)

number of species worldwide (California Academy of Sciences)

life history and larval description; PDF doc of Podagritus parrotti in New Zealand (A.C. Harris, Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand)

Works Cited

1.	Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects By Norman F. Johnson, Charles A. Triplehorn

Contributed by Richard Leung on 8 March, 2005 - 10:58pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod
Last updated 22 September, 2008 - 7:00am

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