Subfamily Bembicinae

Classification · Numbers · Identification · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Print References · Works Cited

Bicyrtes - quadrifasciata? - Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus

Very large wasp on clethra - Sphecius speciosus - female

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 (Apoid Wasps (Apoidea)- traditional Sphecidae)

Family Crabronidae

Subfamily Bembicinae

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

Adults feed on nectar. Larvae are fed insects which the adults put in the nests: most species prey on Auchenorrhyncha but several species are kleptoparasitic on (steal from) other Bembicinae

Life Cycle

Ground-nesters

Remarks

Females are either solitary nest provisioners or brood parasites of other wasps. In the nest-provisioning species, each female digs one or more ground nests using mandibles and front legs (often armed with a row of stout rake spines called 'pecten').(3)

Print References

Parker J.B. (1917) A revision of the bembicine wasps of America North of Mexico. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 52: 1-155. (Full text)

Parker J.B. (1929) A generic revision of the fossorial wasps of the tribes Stizini and Bembicini with notes and descriptions of new species. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 75: 1-203. (Full text)

Works Cited

1.	Ascher J.S., Pickering J. (2017) Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila)

2.	Catalog of Sphecidae sensu lato

3.	The Sand Wasps: Natural History and Behavior Howard Ensign Evans & Kevin M. O'Neill. 2007. Harvard University Press.

Contributed by Richard Leung on 8 March, 2005 - 10:53pm
Additional contributions by Mike Boone, Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, Chuck Entz, Aaron Schusteff, kschnei, v belov, KenW
Last updated 21 March, 2019 - 6:59pm

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