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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Spider Wasps, Velvet Ants and allies (Pompiloidea) » Myrmosid Wasps (Myrmosidae)

Family Myrmosidae - Myrmosid Wasps

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Food · See Also · Works Cited
Bee/Wasp? Myrmosa Myrmosid female - Myrmosa unicolor - female Myrmosidae, wingless wasp, dorsal - Myrmosa unicolor - female Myrmosidae, wingless wasp, thorax - Myrmosa unicolor - female small wasp velvet ant - Myrmosa - female Loomis-J.2022.01 - 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)
Superfamily Pompiloidea (Spider Wasps, Velvet Ants and allies)
Family Myrmosidae (Myrmosid Wasps)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Used to be variously treated as a subfamily of the Mutillidae or Tiphiidae; now recognized as a family closely related to Mutillidae based on molecular data(1)
Explanation of Names
Myrmosidae Fox 1894
Numbers
15 spp. in 3 genera in our area:(2), ~a dozen genera total
not yet in the guide: Leiomyrmosa (monotypic)
Identification
Females wingless, much smaller than males, with thorax divided in two distinct parts; males without a spine at the end of the abdomen.
Food
Larvae are parasites of various bees and wasps
See Also
Brachycistidinae · Chyphotidae · Mutillidae
Works Cited
1.Molecular phylogenetics of Vespoidea indicate paraphyly of the superfamily...
Pilgrim E.M., von Dohlen C.D., Pitts J.P. 2008. Zoologica Scripta 37: 539–560.
2.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.
Contributed by George Waldren on 15 October, 2008 - 10:55am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, v belov, PaleoJon
Last updated 1 September, 2023 - 11:17pm

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