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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Yellowjackets and Hornets, Paper Wasps; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps and allies (Vespoidea) » Yellowjackets and Hornets, Paper Wasps; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps (Vespidae) » Potter and Mason Wasps (Eumeninae) » Eumenes

Genus Eumenes

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Life Cycle · Works Cited

Vespidae - Eumenes -? - Eumenes smithii - male

Possible Microdynerus arenicolus - Eumenes bollii

Potter wasp near Helianthus annuus stand - Eumenes crucifera - 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 (Yellowjackets and Hornets, Paper Wasps; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps and allies)

Family Vespidae (Yellowjackets and Hornets, Paper Wasps; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps)

Subfamily Eumeninae (Potter and Mason Wasps)

Genus Eumenes

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

New World fauna reviewed in (1)

Explanation of Names

Eumenes Latreille 1802

prob. from the name of winged goddesses of vengeance in Greek mythology; literally means 'gracious, kind'

Numbers

8 spp. in our area, 16 in the New World (all Eumenes s.str.), ~110 (and ~50 sspp.) in 2 subgenera total(1)

1. E. americanus: AZ, AR, CO, KS, MO, NE, NM, TX

2. E. bequaerti Grandinete & Carpenter 2018 (=brunneus Isely 1917 nec Spinola 1851), not yet in the guide: CO

3. E. bollii: western (AZ, CA, CO, IA, ID, KS, MD, MN, MO, MT, NM, NV, OK, OR, TX, UT, WA)

4. E. consobrinus: western (AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, OR, UT, WA WY)

5. E. crucifera: transcontinental (Canada: AB, BC, MB, NB, NS, NT, QC, ON; United States: AZ, CA, CO, CT, ID, IL, IN, KY, MA, ME, MI, MN, MO, ND, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PE, SC, SD, UT, VT, WA, WI, WY)

6. E. fraternus: eastern (Canada: NT, ON; United States: AL, AR, CT, DC, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, LA, KS, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NB, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OR, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WI, WV)

7. E. smithii: eastern (AL, FL, GA, KS, MS, NC, OK, TN, TX)

8. E. verticalis: transcontinental (Canada: AB, BC, MB, ON, QC, SK; United States: AZ, CA, CT, CO, DC, DE, ID, IL, IN, MA, MD, MN, MO, NC, ND, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OK, OR, PA, SD, UT, VA, WI, WV, WY)

Size

~13-18 mm

Identification

key to Nearctic species in(1)(2)

key to eastern spp.(3)

Range

worldwide(3)

Food

Larvae feed on caterpillars or beetle larvae

Life Cycle

Female makes a pot of clay as a nest, places eggs on wall of cell, then provisions it with moth and beetle larvae

Larva (with caterpillars) -- pupa -- adult

Pupal development

Works Cited

1.	Taxonomic review of Eumenes Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae) from the New World Grandinete Y.C., Noll F.B., Carpenter J. 2018. Zootaxa 4459: 1-52.

2.	A key to and notes on the Eumenes of America north of Mexico (Hymenoptera: Eumenidae) Mac Lachlan W.B. 1980. J. Kans. Ent. Soc. 53: 617-621.

3.	Identification Atlas of the Vespidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata) of the Northeastern Nearctic Region Matthias Buck, Stephen A. Marshall, and David K. B. Cheung. 2008. Biological Survey of Canada [Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification].

Contributed by Cotinis on 7 September, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Hartmut Wisch, Matthias Buck, Chuck Entz, Aaron Schusteff, v belov, PaleoJon
Last updated 30 November, 2021 - 7:09pm

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