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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoidea sans Anthophila – Apoid Wasps » Square-headed Wasps, Sand Wasps, and Allies (Crabronidae) » Bembicinae

Subfamily Bembicinae

Steniolia of some kind ? wasp - Nysson lateralis - female Bicyrtes Wasp - Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus Hoplisoides semipunctatus? Saygorytes? Bicyrtes insidiatrix? - Bicyrtes insidiatrix Hoplisoides carinatus from Carrizozo, NM? - Hoplisoides - female Nysson wasp?
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)
Works Cited
1.Ascher J.S., Pickering J. (2024) Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila)
2.Pulawski W.J. (2003-) Catalog of Sphecidae sensu lato (Apoidea excluding Apidae)
3.The Sand Wasps: Natural History and Behavior
Howard Ensign Evans & Kevin M. O'Neill. 2007. Harvard University Press.
4.A revision of the bembicine wasps of America North of Mexico
Parker J.B. 1917. Proc. USNM 52: 1‒155.
5.A generic revision of the fossorial wasps of the tribes Stizini and Bembicini with notes and descriptions of new species
Parker J.B. 1929. Proc. USNM 75: 1-203.
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 31 August, 2023 - 5:38am

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