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Family Tiphiidae - Tiphiid Wasps

Red wasp in El Paso, Texas - Colocistis - male

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)

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

Superfamily Tiphioidea

Family Tiphiidae (Tiphiid Wasps)

Other Common Names

(Tiphiid) Flower Wasps

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Currently treated to include Brachycistidinae and Tiphiinae only; other lineages that used to be treated as part of Tiphiidae had been transferred to Thynnidae, resurrected from synonymy and part of a different superfamily(1)(2)

Explanation of Names

Tiphiidae Leach 1815

Numbers

2 subfamilies, with ~207 spp. in 15 genera of in our area;(3)(4)(5)(6) ~24 genera total

Size

our spp. 6–26 mm, worldwide 3–35 mm or more

Identification

males (always winged) have an upcurved hook at the tip of the abdomen; female wings non-striate distally (unlike in the Scoliidae)

Food

parasitoids of subterranean beetle larvae (esp. Scarabaeoidea, Tenebrionidae, and Cicindelinae) and bees/wasps occurring in soil or rotten wood (one Australian sp. parasitise mole crickets); adults feed on nectar

Print References

Pate V. (1947) A conspectus of the Tiphiidæ, with particular reference to the Nearctic forms (Hymenoptera, Aculeata). J. N.Y. Ent. Soc. 55: 115–145 (Full text)

Works Cited

1.	Molecular phylogenetics of Vespoidea indicate paraphyly of the superfamily... Pilgrim E.M., von Dohlen C.D., Pitts J.P. 2008. Zoologica Scripta 37: 539–560.

2.	Identifying the sister group to the bees: a molecular phylogeny of Aculeata with an emphasis on the superfamily Apoidea Debevec A.H., Cardinal S., Danforth B.N. 2012. Zoologica Scripta 41: 527-535.

3.	Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico Karl V. Krombein, Paul D. Hurd, Jr., David R. Smith, and B. D. Burks. 1979. Smithsonian Institution Press.

4.	Nomina Insecta Nearctica Poole, Robert W. Nearctica.com, Inc.

5.	Phylogeny and checklist of the nocturnal tiphiids of the Western Hemisphere (Hymenoptera: Tiphiidae: Brachycistidinae) Kimsey L.S., Wasbauer M.S. 2006. J. Hymenopt. Res. 15: 9-25.

6.	Revision of the brachycistidine genus Colocistis Krombein, 1942 (Hymenoptera, Tiphiidae) Kimsey L.S., Wasbauer M.S. 2013. J. Hymenopt. Res. 33: 1-24.

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Bbarnd, Aaron Schusteff, v belov, PaleoJon
Last updated 2 July, 2025 - 9:26pm

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