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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoid Wasps (Apoidea)- traditional Sphecidae » Crabronidae » Square-headed Wasps (Crabroninae) » Larrini » Gastrosericina » Tachytes

Genus Tachytes

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Internet References · Works Cited

Orange and brown wasp - Tachytes distinctus - female

Parasitic wasp? - Tachytes distinctus - female

Possible Sphex texanus? - Tachytes guatemalensis

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 Crabroninae (Square-headed Wasps)

Tribe Larrini

Subtribe Gastrosericina

Genus Tachytes

Explanation of Names

Tachytes Panzer 1806

'fast one'

Numbers

34 spp. in our area(1), ~300 worldwide(2)

Size

7-19 mm(3)

Identification

Antennae, black. Legs and wings, tawny color. Short, golden hairs on the thorax and head. Determining sex may be critical to identification.

Keying info to be found here:

♂

♀

Some species have very dark eyes:

♀

♂

♀

Some species have males with slightly modified antennae segments:

Basal: ♂

Apical: ♂

Range

worldwide

Food

Grasshoppers, katydids

Life Cycle

Nests in sand

See Also

Some other green-eyed wasps, e.g. Larra, look similar.

Many Tachysphex spp. also look similar, but are generally smaller, with a pointy abdomen, and no pygidial plate.

Internet References

~ DNA verified specimens (BOLDSYSTEMS website)

~ Hilltoping behavior: Alcock (2007)

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.	A key to the genus Tachytes in America north of Mexico with descriptions of three new species (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae, Larrinae) Richard Bohart. 1994. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 96:342-349.

Contributed by Joel Kits on 20 April, 2005 - 9:34pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, John S. Ascher, v belov, Robert H. Biagi
Last updated 22 April, 2017 - 7:10pm

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