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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 » Thread-waisted Wasps (Sphecidae) » Sphecinae » Sphecini » Sphex

Genus Sphex

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Remarks · Works Cited
Sphecidae - Sphex lucae - female unknown wasp - Sphex pensylvanicus Female, Sphecinae - Sphex pensylvanicus - female Great Golden Digger Wasp - Sphex ichneumoneus Texan Wasp - Sphex - male Digger Wasp? - Sphex ashmeadi - male Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus)? - Sphex ichneumoneus Black Wasp - Sphex pensylvanicus
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 Sphecidae (Thread-waisted Wasps)
Subfamily Sphecinae
Tribe Sphecini
Genus Sphex
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Although the name is masculine, Linnaeus and many subsequent workers erroneously treated it as feminine.
Explanation of Names
Sphex Linnaeus 1758
from the Greek σφήξ (sphéx), the ancient name of a kind of wasp
Numbers
12 spp. in 2 subgenera in our area(1), ~120 spp. worldwide(2); 9 spp. in e. US(3)
Sphex (Fernaldia)
1. Sphex (Fernaldia) lucae

Sphex (Sphex)
2. Sphex (sphex) ashmeadi: southwestern US (AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, TX, UT)
3. Sphex (Sphex) dorsalis: southern US (FL & GA west to CA)
4. Sphex (Sphex) flavovestitus: eastern US
5. Sphex (Sphex) habenus: eastern US
6. Sphex (Sphex) ichneumoneus: transcontinental
7. Sphex (Sphex) jamaicensis: FL
8. Sphex (Sphex) nudus: eastern US
9. Sphex (Sphex) pensylvanicus: transcontinental
10. Sphex (Sphex) servillei: s. TX
11. Sphex (Sphex) tepanecus: AZ, s. NM, TX
12. Sphex (Sphex) texanus: KS south to TX, AZ
Size
Up to 28 mm
Identification
key to spp. in (4)
Range
worldwide and throughout NA(5)
Food
nests provisioned with katydids (Tettigoniidae); each wasp species specializes on certain prey species
Remarks
Nest in ground
Works Cited
1.Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico
Karl V. Krombein, Paul D. Hurd, Jr., David R. Smith, and B. D. Burks. 1979. Smithsonian Institution Press.
2.Pulawski W.J. (2003-) Catalog of Sphecidae sensu lato (Apoidea excluding Apidae)
3.Raney H. (-2014) Eastern sphecid wasps
4.A reclassification of the Sphecinae with a revision of the Nearctic species of the tribes Sceliphronini and Sphecini
Bohart RM and Menke AS. 1963. University of California Publications in Entomology 30:91-182.
5.Ascher J.S., Pickering J. (2024) Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila)
Contributed by Cotinis on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Hartmut Wisch, Chuck Entz, v belov, PaleoJon, bdagley
Last updated 13 June, 2024 - 1:19am

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