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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 Isodontia? - Sphex dorsalis - male Wasp ID- Sphex nudus? - Sphex nudus Great Golden Digger Wasp - Sphex ichneumoneus Apoid Wasps (Aponidae) ID Please - Sphex dorsalis Katydid Wasp - Sphex nudus Wasp ID request - Sphex ichneumoneus Pennsylvania Wasp - Sphex ichneumoneus
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 treated it as feminine, and many workers followed
Explanation of Names
Sphex Linnaeus 1758
Greek σφηξ, the ancient name of a kind of wasp
Numbers
12 spp. in 2 subgenera (Fernaldia with just 1 sp.) in our area(1), ~120 spp. worldwide(2); 9 spp. in e. US(3)
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.American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico
Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.
2.Catalog of Sphecidae sensu lato
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. (2017) 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 11 May, 2023 - 5:14pm

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