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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 · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Internet References · Works Cited

Solitary wasp, among nesting bees - Tachytes distinctus - male

Is this Subfamily Crabroninae? ID please - Tachytes crassus - male

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

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Tachytes Panzer 1806

Explanation of Names

The name of the genus derives from the Greek ταχύτης (tachytes), meaning swiftness or speed. (1)

Numbers

34 spp. in our area(2), ~300 worldwide(3)

Size

7-19 mm(4)

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.	Wikipedia

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

3.	Catalog of Sphecidae sensu lato

4.	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 24 August, 2019 - 4:07pm

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