Sceliphron caementarium, also known as the yellow-legged mud-dauber wasp, black-and-yellow mud dauber, or black-waisted mud-dauber, is a species of sphecid wasp. There are some 30 other species of Sceliphron that occur throughout the world, though in appearance and habits they are quite similar to S. caementarium.
Paper wasps are vespid wasps and typically refers to members of the vespid subfamily Polistinae, though it often colloquially includes members of the subfamilies Vespinae and Stenogastrinae, discussed elsewhere, which also make nests out of paper. Paper wasp nests are characterized by open combs with down pointing cells. Some types of paper wasps are also sometimes called umbrella wasps, due to the distinctive design of their nests.
Apocrita is a suborder of insects in the order Hymenoptera. It includes wasps, bees, and ants, and consists of many families. It contains the most advanced hymenopterans and is distinguished from Symphyta by the narrow "waist" (petiole) formed between the first two segments of the actual abdomen; the first abdominal segment is fused to the thorax, and is called the propodeum. Therefore, it is general practice, when discussing the body of an apocritan in a technical sense, to refer to the mesosoma and metasoma rather than the "thorax" and "abdomen", respectively. The evolution of a constricted waist was an important adaption for the parasitoid lifestyle of the ancestral apocritan, allowing more maneuverability of the female's ovipositor. The ovipositor either extends freely or is retracted, and may be developed into a stinger for both defense and paralyzing prey. Larvae are legless and blind, and either feed inside a host or in a nest cell provisioned by their mothers.
Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary, and most capture and paralyze prey, though members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are kleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders.
Sphecius speciosus, often simply referred to as the cicada killer or the cicada hawk, is a large, solitary digger wasp species in the family Crabronidae. The name may be applied to any species of crabronid that preys on cicadas, though in North America, it is typically applied to this species, also referred to as the eastern cicada killer in order to further differentiate it from the multiple other examples of related wasp species. Sometimes, they are called sand hornets, although they are not hornets, which belong to the family Vespidae. This species can be found in the Eastern and Midwest U.S. and southwards into Mexico and Central America. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them. Cicada killers exert a measure of natural control on cicada populations, and as such, they may directly benefit the deciduous trees upon which the cicadas feed.
The Bembicini, or sand wasps, are a large tribe of crabronid wasps, comprising 20 genera. Bembicines are predators on various groups of insects. The type of prey captured tends to be rather consistent within each genus, with flies (Diptera) being the most common type of prey taken. Nests are typically short, simple burrows, with a single enlarged chamber at the bottom which is stocked with freshly paralysed prey items for the developing wasp larva; the egg may sometimes be laid before the chamber is completely stocked. It is common for numerous females to excavate nests within a small area where the soil is suitable, creating large and sometimes very dense nesting aggregations, which tend to attract various species of parasitic flies and wasps, many of which are cleptoparasites; in some cases, the sand wasps prey on their own parasites, a surprisingly rare phenomenon in the animal kingdom. Although sand wasps are normally yellow and black, some are black and white with bright green eyes.
The subfamily Philanthinae is one of the largest groups in the wasp family Crabronidae, with about 1100 species in 9 genera, most of them in Cerceris; Alexander treats it as having only 8 genera. Historically, this subfamily has frequently been accorded family status. The subfamily consists of solitary, predatory wasps, each genus having its own distinct and consistent prey preferences. The adult females dig tunnels in the ground for nesting.
Philanthus gibbosus, which is commonly referred to as a beewolf due to its predation practices, is a species of bee-hunting wasp and is the most common and widespread member of the genus in North America. P. gibbosus is of the order Hymenoptera and the genus Philanthus. It is native to the Midwestern United States and the western Appalachians. P. gibbosus are often observed to visit flowers and other plants in search of insect prey to feed their young. The prey that P. gibbosus catches is then coated in a layer of pollen and fed to the young wasps.
Larra bicolor is a parasitoid wasp native to South America. It was introduced into Florida as a biological pest control of invasive mole crickets.
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey.
Cerceris fumipennis, the only species of buprestid-hunting Crabronidae occurring in eastern North America, is found throughout the continental United States east of the Rockies: from Texas and Florida north to Maine, Wyoming, and into Canada. The wasps most often nest in open areas of hard-packed sandy soil surrounded by woody habitat suitable for their buprestid beetle prey.
Sphex pensylvanicus, the great black wasp, is a species of digger wasp. It lives across most of North America and grows to a size of 20–35 mm (0.8–1.4 in). The larvae feed on living insects that the females paralyze and carry to the underground nest.
The thin-waisted social wasps, which typically reside in Neotropical regions from Central to South America, are a small genus of wasps that build nests and live in colonies ranging in size from 1 to 18 members. Microstigmus is widely considered to be the only true eusocial species within the family Crabronidae. Like all Hymenoptera, Microstigmus has an interesting sex determination pattern. Females are 2n (diploid), spawning from eggs that have been fertilized, while males are 1n (haploid) and spawn from unfertilized eggs. Female wasps contain the eggs within their egg sac and have the option of fertilizing them or not, thus having complete control of the gender of their offspring. This wasp genus, part of the suborder Apocrita, is distinguished physically by the narrow waist (petiole) between the end segment of the thorax (mesosoma) and the beginning of the abdomen (metasoma). Specifically, it is in the subgroup of "apoid wasps", those that exhibit social behavior in nesting and foraging. Evidence does exist that in some species social altruism is visible; however, studies on these topics have been limited. The small size and enclosed nest structure makes it difficult to obtain significant data. Although it was originally classified under the Sphecidae family due to its elongated petiole, Microstigmus has been reclassified into the new Crabronidae family.
Ammophila sabulosa, the red-banded sand wasp, is a species of the subfamily Ammophilinae of the solitary hunting wasp family Sphecidae, also called digger wasps. Found across Eurasia, the parasitoid wasp is notable for the mass provisioning behaviour of the females, hunting caterpillars mainly on sunny days, paralysing them with a sting, and burying them in a burrow with a single egg. The species is also remarkable for the extent to which females parasitise their own species, either stealing prey from nests of other females to provision their own nests, or in brood parasitism, removing the other female's egg and laying one of her own instead.
Chrysis ignita is a species of cuckoo wasp. It is one of a group of species which are difficult to separate and which may be referred to as ruby-tailed wasps.
Sphex funerarius, the golden digger wasp, is a species of digger wasp of the family Sphecidae.
Pison spinolae, commonly known as mason wasp, is a solitary wasp of the family Crabronidae, found throughout New Zealand.
Ammophila procera, the common thread-waisted wasp, is a species of thread-waisted wasp in the family Sphecidae. It is a common species, found in southern Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and south to Central America.
Palmodes occitanicus is a species of thread-waisted wasp in the family Sphecidae.
Ceropales bipunctata, the Two-Speckled Cuckoo Spider Wasp, is a species of diurnal, kleptoparasitic spider wasp in the family Pompilidae. It is an obligate kleptoparasite, meaning that it must rely on the captured provisions of other spider wasps and cannot capture its own. It is found on the Atlantic Coast of North America, north to New Brunswick, Canada. It feeds on nectar primarily from goldenrods, and also other common nectaring plants. It is known to lay an egg on the prey of other pompilids, including the two species Anoplius cleora and Anoplius aethiops. Eggs are laid in the book lung of the spider. These wasps also sometimes lay an egg on prey from spider-hunting wasps in the family Sphecidae.
