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Subfamily Bembicinae

Crabronid - Stizus brevipennis - female Yellow-legged Wasp - Saygorytes phaleratus MO Cicada Killer July - Sphecius speciosus wasp - Stizus brevipennis Arroyo Wasp - Bembix Is this a cicada killer? - Sphecius speciosus - female wasp - Microbembex monodonta Pennsylvania Wasp  - Sphecius speciosus
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)
No Taxon (Apoidea sans Anthophila – Apoid Wasps)
Family Crabronidae (Square-headed Wasps, Sand Wasps, and Allies)
Subfamily Bembicinae
Explanation of Names
Bembicinae Latreille 1802
Numbers
3 tribes in the subfamily, with ca. 280 spp. in 35 genera in our area(1) and ~1700 spp. in >80 genera worldwide(2)
Identification
Mesonotum almost always expanded laterally into laminae more or less overlying the bases of the tegulae, and the jugal lobe of the hind wing is shorter than the submedian cell; all except Bembicini have two apical spurs on the middle tibiae; forewings with three submarginal cells.
Food
most provsion lavae with Auchenorrhyncha but several species are kleptoparasitic on other Bembicinae
Life Cycle
Ground-nesters
Remarks
Females are either solitary nest provisioners or brood parasites of other wasps. In the nest-provisioning species, female digs one or more ground nests using mandibles and front legs (often armed with a rake of stout spines called 'pecten').(3)
Print References
(4)(5)