Ampulex - WaspWeb

Ampulex Jurine

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera; Superfamily: Apoidea; Family: Ampulicidae; Subfamily: Ampulicinae)

Ampulex Jurine, 1807. Type species: Chlorion compressum of Latreille and of Fabricius [= Chlorion compressum (Fabricius 1804) = Sphex compressus Fabricius 1781, designated by Audouin 1822.Pronaeus Latreille 1809. Type species: Dryinus aeneus Fabricius 1804, designated by Latreille 1810. Synonymized by Pate 1935.
Lorrhoeum Shuckard 1837. Type species: Chlorion compressum (Fabricius 1804) [= Sphex compressus Fabricius 1781], by original designation and monotypy.
Rhinopsis Westwood 1844. Type species: Rhinopsis abbotti Westwood 1844 [= Ampulex canaliculata Say 1823], by monotypy.
Waagenia Kriechbaumer 1874. Type species: Waagenia sikkimensis Kriechbaumer 1874, by monotypy.
Chlorampulex de Saussure, 1892:441. Type species: Sphex compressus Fabricius 1781, designated by Pate 1937.

	Ampulex aeneus (Fabricius, 1804)
	Ampulex apicalis F. Smith, 1873
	Ampulex arnoldi Brauns in Arnold, 1928
	Ampulex assimilis Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex bantuae Gess, 1984
	Ampulex bredoi Arnold, 1947
	Ampulex chalybea F. Smith, 1856
	Ampulex compressus (Fabricius, 1781)
	Ampulex sibiricus (Fabricius, 1793)
	Ampulex conigera Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex crassicornis Kohl, 1898
	Ampulex crawshayi R. Turner, 1917
	Ampulex cyanator (Thunberg, 1822)
	Ampulex cyanipes (Westwood, 1841)
	Ampulex cyanura Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex cyanura monticola Arnold, 1928
	Ampulex cyanura rhodesiana Arnold, 1928
	Ampulex cyclostoma Gribodo, 1894
	Ampulex denticollis (Cameron, 1910)
	Ampulex denticollis rufithorax Arnold, 1931
	Ampulex dives Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex formosa Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex honesta Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex kristenseni R. Turner, 1917
	Ampulex lazulina Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex lesothoensis Gess, 1984
	Ampulex lugubris Arnold, 1947
	Ampulex luluana Leclercq, 1954
	Ampulex melanocera Cameron, 1908
	Ampulex moebii Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex montivaga Gess, 1984
	Ampulex mutilloides Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex nasuta Er. André, 1895
	Ampulex nebulosa F. Smith, 1856
	Ampulex nigrocoerulea de Saussure in Distant, 1892
	Ampulex nigrosetosa Gess, 1984
	Ampulex nitidicollis R. Turner, 1919
	Ampulex occipitalis Arnold, 1947
	Ampulex overlaeti Leclercq, 1954
	Ampulex psilopus Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex purpureum (Westwood, 1844)
	Ampulex senex Bischoff, 1915
	Ampulex spectabilis Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex splendidula Kohl, 1893
	Ampulex timulloides Gess, 1984
	Ampulex toroensis R. Turner, 1919
	Ampulex venusta Stål, 1857
	Ampulex viridescens Arnold, 1947
	Ampulex species

Distribution

Worldwide, but most diverse in the tropics.



A female Ampulex dragging its paralysed prey item Deropeltis erythrocephala to a nest site (Photographs © Dion Brandt).

Biology	Nest in hollow stems and crevices. Prey on cockroaches, which are paralysed and dragged backwards by the wasp to a suitable nest site in a crack or crevice. The nest is provisioned with one or more cockroachs, each prey item being separated with a loose plug of plant debris.
References	Bohart, R.M. & Menke, A. S. 1976. Sphecid Wasps of the World: a Generic Revision. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. Dollfuss, H. 2017. The Ampulicidae wasps of the “Biologiezentrum-Linz”-collection in Linz, Austria, including the genera Ampulex Jurine, Dolichurus Latreille, and Trirogma Westwood (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Ampulicidae). Linzer biologische Beiträge 49: 441–457. Gadallah NS. 2020. Biodiversity of the aculeate wasps (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) of the Arabian Peninsula: Apoidea (Spheciformes), Ampulicidae. Zootaxa 4754(1): 17–19. Soliman AM, Gadallah NS, Ohl M & Dhafer HMA. 2017. Revision of the digger wasps of the Ampulicidae and Heterogynaidae (Hymenoptera) of Saudi Arabia, with the description of a new species of the enigmatic genus Heterogyna Nagy. Journal of Natural History 51: 2057-2085. DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2017.1355492.
Links	CATALOG OF WORLD SPHECIDAE sensu lato (= Apoidea excluding bees) compiled by Wojciech J. Pulawski (California Academy of Sciences).
Credits	Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa) or © Dion Brandt or © Ahmed Mostafa Soliman (Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University).

Ampulex Jurine

Distribution

Biology

References

Links

Credits