Distribution
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Worldwide. |
Biology |
Bradynobaenidae are possibly parasitoids of
Sun spiders (Solifugae). Mutillidae are ectoparasitoids of
larvae or pupa of other insects. Pompilidae are predators of spiders. Sapygidae
are cleptoparasites or ectoparasitoids of bee and wasp larva. Tiphiidae
are ectoparasitoids of subterranean or wood-boring beetle larvae (Scarabaeidae,
Cerambycidae, Cicindelidae, Tenebrionidae). The female stings each larva before
laying an egg on it. Rhopalosomatidae are ectoparasitoids of nymphal crickets (Gryllidae) forming
extruding sac-like structures similar to Dryinidae. Scoliidae are external parasitoids of beetle larvae (mostly Scarabaeidae)
that live in soil or decaying vegetable matter. Potter or Mason wasps (Eumeninae) nest in holes in
the ground, in hollow stems, or
construct nests from clay. Females lay an egg in each individual cell
and provision the cells with partially paralysed caterpillars. The cell
is then sealed. The masarine Pollen wasps provision their nests with pollen and nectar.
Paper wasps (Vespinae) are social, constructing communal paper nests. Larvae are fed
on chewed-up, soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars. |
Comments |
The re-classification of the Vespoidea into a
number of superfamilies proposed by Pilgrim et al. (2008) and adopted by
Peters et al. (2017) and Branstetter et al. (2018) has not been followed
here yet, for reasons outlined in Brothers (2019). The exception is
recognition of the family Thynnidae incorporating various taxa
previously included in the Tiphiidae, a hypothesis that appears to have
fairly robust support (albeit only based on molecular evidence), and
recognition of which has been widely adopted across various platforms.
We retain this newly proposed family together with the historically
recognized families within the single superfamily Vespoidea, until such
time that stronger phylogenetic evidence, based on both molecular as
well as morphological appraisal, becomes available for supporting
additional splitting at superfamily level within this group. |
References |
Aguiar AP, Deans AR, Engel MS, Forshage M, Huber JT, Jennings JT, Johnson NF,
Lelej AS, Longino JT, Lohrmann V, Miko I. 2013.
Order Hymenoptera. In: Zhang, Z.-Q.(Ed.) Animal Biodiversity: An Outline
of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness (Addenda 2013).
Zootaxa 3703: 51-62.
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3703.1.12
Bequaert, J.C.
1918. A revision of the Vespidae of
the Belgian Congo based on the collection of the American Museum Congo
Expedition: with a list of Ethiopian diplopterous wasps. Bulletin of the AMNH
39: 1-384.
Branstetter MG, Childers AK, Cox-Foster D, Hopper KR, Kapheim KM, Toth AL,
Worley KC. 2018.
Genomes of the Hymenoptera. Current Opinion in Insect Science 25:
65-75.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2017.11.008
Brothers D.J. 2019.
Aculeate Hymenoptera: Phylogeny and Classification. In: Starr C. (eds)
Encyclopedia of Social Insects. Springer, Cham.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_1-1
Brothers, D.J. &
Finnamore A.T. 1993. Superfamily Vespoidea (pp. 161-278).
In
GOULET, H. & HUBER,
J. (eds). Hymenoptera of the World: an identification guide to families.
Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp.
Debevec AH, Cardinal S, Danforth BN. 2012.
Identifying the sister group to the bees: a molecular phylogeny of Aculeata with
an emphasis on the superfamily Apoidea. Zoologica scripta 41: 527-35.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2012.00549.x
Dollfuss, H. 1990. Aculeate Hymenoptera
collected 1985 in the Republic of Central Africa (Sphecidae, Eumenidae, Vespidae,
Pompilidae, Chrysididae and Scoliidae). Zeitschrift der Arbeitsgemeinschaft
Österreichischer Entomologen 42(3/4): 121–124.
Gess, S.K. & Gess, F.W. 2014.
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Biodiversity Series 24. South African National Biodiversity Institute,
Pretoria. 320 pp.
Johnson BR, Borowiec ML, Chiu JC, Lee EK, Atallah J, Ward
PS. 2013.
Phylogenomics resolves evolutionary relationships among ants, bees, and wasps.
Current Biology 23: 2058–2062.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.08.050
Peters RS, Krogmann L, Mayer C, Donath A, Gunkel
S, Meusemann K, Kozlov A, Podsiadlowski L, Petersen M, Lanfear R, Diez
PA. 2017.
Evolutionary history of the Hymenoptera. Current Biology
27:1013-1018.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.01.027
Pilgrim EM, von Dohlen CD, Pitts JP. 2008.
Molecular phylogenetics of Vespoidea indicate paraphyly of the superfamily and
novel relationships of its component families and subfamilies. Zoologica
Scripta 37: 539–560.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00340.x
Sharkey, M., 2007. Phylogeny and classification of
Hymenoptera. Zootaxa 1668: 521–548.
Sharkey, M. J., Carpenter, J. M., Vilhelmsen, L., Heraty, J.,
Liljeblad, J., Dowling, A. P.G., Schulmeister, S., Murray, D., Deans, A.
R., Ronquist, F., Krogmann, L. and Wheeler, W. C. 2012.
Phylogenetic relationships among superfamilies of Hymenoptera.
Cladistics 28: 80–112. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2011.00366.x |
Credits
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Photographs
© Simon van Noort and Hamish Robertson (Iziko Museums); or ©
Victor Kolyada (Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St.
Petersburg) or © Vida van der Walt (Pretoria).
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