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For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
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Family Crabronidae - Square-headed Wasps, Sand Wasps, and Allies

Cicada Hunter Wasp - Sphecius speciosus wasp - Trypoxylon Amber and Black Wasp Beewolf wasp - Philanthus gibbosus on Dill - Philanthus gibbosus Wasp? sand wasp pair - Bembix - male - female Crabronid wasp - Lestica ? - Ectemnius Small wasp - Philanthus multimaculatus
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)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Formerly lumped with Sphecidae(1); paraphyletic group with respect to bees (the latter arise from within Crabronidae)(2)
Explanation of Names
Crabronidae Latreille 1802
Numbers
1225 spp. in 98 genera of 6 subfamilies in our area(3); almost 9,000 spp. in >240 genera of 8 subfamilies worldwide(4)
Overview of our fauna (* –taxa not yet in the guide)
Family Crabronidae
Subfamily Bembicinae
Tribe Bembicini
Subfamily Crabroninae
Tribe Crabronini
Tribe Larrini
Subtribe Larrina Larra · Liris (subg. Leptolarra · *Motes)
Subfamily Mellininae
Subfamily Pemphredoninae
Subfamily Philanthinae
Food
Larvae feed on prey captured and brought to the nest by adult wasps. The type of prey varies according to species of wasp, but includes aphids, bees, beetles, bugs, butterflies & moths, cicadas, cockroaches, crickets, flies, grasshoppers, hoppers, mantids, and spiders.
A few species are kleptoparasitic, providing their larvae with prey that was captured by other species of wasps.
Life Cycle
Nest-sharing occurs in some subfamilies, especially Pemphredoninae and Philanthinae. Nesting habits and prey of FL spp.
Print References
Sphecid Wasps of the World: a Generic Revision(5)