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Sceliphrinae

Sceliphrine wasps of the Afrotropical region

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

Classification

Chalybion Dahlbom, 1843
Sceliphron Klug, 1801

Distribution

Worldwide.

Biology

Females mass provision single cells either in burrows excavated in exposed vertical soil banks or in pre-existing cavities in wood and then the cells are sealed with mud, or they construct mud nests comprising several adjacent tubes in a variety of sheltered situations including inside and around houses. They prey on a variety of spiders and mass provision the single cells with an egg laid on the first spider.

References

Bohart, R.M. & Menke, A. S. 1976. Sphecid Wasps of the World: a Generic Revision. University of California Press, Berkeley, California.

Brothers D.J. 1999. Phylogeny and evolution of wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera, Chrysidoidea, Vespoidea and Apoidea) Zoologica Scripta 28: 233–250.

Finnamore, A.T. & Michener, C.D. 1993. Superfamily Apoidea (pp. 279-357). In GOULET, H. & HUBER, J. (eds). Hymenoptera of the World: an identification guide to families. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp.

Gess SK, Gess FW 2014. Wasps and bees in southern Africa. SANBI Biodiversity Series 24. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. 320 pp.

Weaving A.J.S. 1994. Nesting behaviour in three Afrotropical trap-nesting wasps, Chalybion laevigatum (Kohl), Proepipona meadewaldoi Bequaert and Tricarinodynerus guerinii (Saussure) (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae, Eumenidae). Entomologist 113 (3-4): 183-197.

Links

CATALOG OF WORLD SPHECIDAE sensu lato (= Apoidea excluding bees) compiled by
Wojciech J. Pulawski (California Academy of Sciences).

Credits

Photographs © Duncan Butchart or © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).


Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2024. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

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