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Genus Trypoxylon

small long-bodied wasp - Trypoxylon pipe organ mud dauber - Trypoxylon politum Small wasp? - Trypoxylon Crabronidae? - Trypoxylon wasp in bee house in flight - Trypoxylon wasp with wet wings (video link below) - Trypoxylon wasp nest - Trypoxylon politum pretty wasp - Trypoxylon - 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)
No Taxon (Apoidea sans Anthophila – Apoid Wasps)
Family Crabronidae (Square-headed Wasps, Sand Wasps, and Allies)
Subfamily Crabroninae
Tribe Trypoxylini
Genus Trypoxylon
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
reviewed in (1)
Explanation of Names
Trypoxylon Latreille 1796
Numbers
29 spp. in 2 subgenera in our area (28 in the US, 16 in Canada)(2), >630 spp. worldwide(3)
Identification
The "notched" eyes and clavate (club-shaped) abdomen are very distinctive.
keys to spp. in (1)(4)
Range
worldwide and throughout NA(3)
Remarks
The "organ pipe mud dauber" (T. politum ) is the only species in this genus (in NA) that fabricates nests of mud. All other our species (the "keyhole wasps") nest in pre-existing tunnels like beetle borings, sealing the finished nest with mud. Paralyzed spiders are used as provisions in each cell. [Comment by Eric Eaton]
Trypoxylon parasites include Melittobia chalybii (Eulophidae), Cleonymus magnificus (Pteromalidae), Trychrysis doriae (Chrysididae), Sphaeropthalma (Mutillidae), Perithous divinator (Ichneumonidae), Megaselia (Phoridae), Anthrax spp. (Bombyliidae), Amobia distorta (Sarcophagidae), and some other members of these families(5)
Works Cited
1.A Review of the Nearctic Wasps of the Genus Trypoxylon (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)
Grace A. Sandhouse. 1940. American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 133-176.
2.Ascher J.S., Pickering J. (2017) Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila)
3.Pulawski W.J. (2003-) Catalog of Sphecidae sensu lato (Apoidea excluding Apidae)
4.Wasps of the Genus Trypoxylon Subgenus Trypargilum in North America (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae)
Rollin E. Coville. 1982. University of California Press, Entomology, Volume 97.
5.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.