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Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

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Genus Cerceris

Wasp - Cerceris finitima - female Black and white wasp - Cerceris nigrescens - female Apoid Wasps (Apoidea)- ID please - Cerceris bicornuta - male Cerceris Unknown Cereris - Cerceris - male unknown wasp  - Cerceris - male unknown wasp - Cerceris Hymenoptera. Crabronidae. Cerceris atramontensis - Cerceris
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 Philanthinae
Tribe Cercerini
Genus Cerceris
Other Common Names
Weevil wasps (applies to many but not all species of Cerceris but also applies to additional species)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
reviewed in (1)(2)
Explanation of Names
Cerceris Latreille 1803
Numbers
86 spp. in our area (of which ~30 reach Canada)(3), 29 in e. US(4), almost 900 worldwide(5)
Identification
Abdominal segments are constricted at the margins. Outer veinlet of submarginal cell 3 meeting marginal cell not beyond its outer third. Terga without median or submedian transverse depressions.
The faces of females are modified with unusual projections on the clypeus and clypeal margin.
Range
worldwide(5)
Habitat
Females excavate cavities in soil as nests
Food
Most species provision nests with adult beetles (weevils, Scarabaeidae, Cerambycidae, Tenebrionidae, Buprestidae, Chrysomelidae...); some, with bees/wasps; C. halone hunt exclusively Curculio nasicus
Remarks
Females nest in aggregations in firm bare soil and may use old nests of congeners or other wasps, in which case they tend to dig their own tunnel from the old entrance. While burrowing, some soil is pushed in to form a plug. The burrow is a vertical shaft 2.5 cm to 1.3 m deep with horizontal branches or the shaft itself becoming horizontal. After the shaft is completed, females begin hunting. Some species start building cells from the entrance; others, from the bottom. A nest usually have under 10 cells, with up to 15‒20 prey items per cell. Parasitic Mutillidae have been reared from their nests. One species is known to have daughters assist mothers in nest guarding.(6)(7)