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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Vespoidea » Vespidae » Pollen Wasps (Masarinae) » Pseudomasaris

Genus Pseudomasaris

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Works Cited
Pollen Wasp #2 - Pseudomasaris edwardsii - female Pseudomasaris vespoides - male Pseudomasaris zonalis - female unknown unusual antenna wasp? - Pseudomasaris texanus - male Wasp on Phacelia - Pseudomasaris edwardsii - male Possibly Crabronid Wasp -Philanthus - Pseudomasaris edwardsii - female Wasp or fly? - Pseudomasaris edwardsii - male Pseudomasaris edwardsii - 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)
Superfamily Vespoidea
Family Vespidae
Subfamily Masarinae (Pollen Wasps)
Genus Pseudomasaris
Explanation of Names
Pseudomasaris Ashmead 1902
Numbers
14 spp. in our area, 15 total(1)
Identification
Forewing with two submarginal cells

Antennae clubbed

Inner metatibial spurs bifid

key to spp. in (2)
Range
w NA north to 50°N(3)
Habitat
Semiarid/arid areas. Often found in places with rocks to build nests on.
Season
Feb-Aug, more common in spring. Individuals start emerging in late March/early April in southern CA, not before mid-May in WA
Food
Mainly oligolectic, favoring Phacelia, Eriodictyon (both Hydrophyllaceae s.s.), or Penstemon species. Adults may take nectar from plants of other families; females provision offspring with a mixture of pollen and nectar.(3)
Life Cycle
Most are likely univoltine; P. phacelia multivoltine(4)
Remarks
Mud nests built on rocks or twigs (Images), may be hard to find. Nests are parasitized by Chrysurissa densa.
See Also

Nomada spp
Print References
Bradley J.C. (1922) The taxonomy of the Masarid wasps, including a monograph of the North American species. UC Publ. Entomol. 1: 369-464. (Full text)
Bequaert, Joseph (1929). A New Pseudomasaris from California, with Some Considerations on the Masarid Wasps (Hymenoptera). Psyche 36(2):61-88. (Full Text)
Bequaert J. (1929) Some additional remarks on the masarid wasps. Psyche 36:364-369. (Full Text)
Bequaert, Joseph (1940). Notes on the distribution of Pseudomasaris and on the food plants of the Masaridinae and Gayellinae (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc, 35:37—45. (Full Text)
Cooper, K.W. and Bequaert, J. (1950). Records and flower preferences of Masarid wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Psyche 57: 137-142. (Full Text)
Parker F.D. (1967) Notes on the nests of three species of Pseudomasaris Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Masaridae). Pan-Pac. Entomol. 43: 213-216 (Full text)
Works Cited
1.Checklist of species of the subfamily Masarinae (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)
Carpenter J.M. 2001. American Museum novitates 3325. 40 pp.
2.New records of Pseudomasaris Ashmead (Hymenoptera:Vespoidea, Masaridae), with notes on P. phaceliae Rohwer and P. cazieri Bohart
Richards O.W. 1966. Proc. R. Ent. Soc. London (B) 35(3-4): 47-55.
3.The Pollen Wasps
Sarah K. Gess. 1996.
4.Multivoltinism and usage of multiple nest substrates in a West Texas sand dune population of Pseudomasaris phaceliae...
Contributed by Beatriz Moisset on 28 June, 2005 - 5:09pm
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, Hartmut Wisch, Aaron Schusteff, v belov, Nathaniel Green
Last updated 26 August, 2024 - 4:54pm

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