The Vespidae are a large, diverse, cosmopolitan family of wasps, including nearly all the known eusocial wasps and many solitary wasps. Each social wasp colony includes a queen and a number of female workers with varying degrees of sterility relative to the queen. In temperate social species, colonies usually last only one year, dying at the onset of winter. New queens and males (drones) are produced towards the end of the summer, and after mating, the queens hibernate over winter in cracks or other sheltered locations. The nests of most species are constructed out of mud, but polistines and vespines use plant fibers, chewed to form a sort of paper. Many species are pollen vectors contributing to the pollination of several plants, being potential or even effective pollinators, while others are notable predators of pest insect species, and a few species are invasive pests.
Potter wasps, the Eumeninae, are a cosmopolitan wasp group presently treated as a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae.
Leptochilus is a large, mostly Holarctic genus of small sized potter wasps. The genus reaches its largest diversity in the Palearctic where there are more than 135 species belonging to 5 subgenera. However the division of The division of Leptochilus into subgenera can not be fully supported and the status of some of them is dubious.
Delta is an Old World genus of potter wasps with species predominantly distributed through tropical Africa and Asia. Some species are present in the Palearctic region, and a few have been introduced in the Nearctic and Neotropical regions. The members of this genus have a long metasomal petiole, like members of the genera Eumenes and Zeta.
Katamenes is a genus of potter wasps with species distributed in Europe and Africa. When originally named by Edmund Meade-Waldo, Katemenes was monotypic, containing only K. watsoni, but other species have since been moved from Eumenes to Katamenes.
Symmorphus is a primarily holarctic genus of potter wasps.within the family Vespidae.
Knemodynerus is a genus of potter wasps distributed through the Palearctic, Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Australasian regions. The species currently classified in the genus are:
Leptomenes is a mainly Afrotropical genus of potter wasps. It was previously a much larger genus, though many species have been transferred to other genera such as Eumenidiopsis, Stroudia, and Tachymenes.
Eustenancistrocerus is an Afrotropical, Palearctic and Oriental genus of potter wasps. The species in this genus include:
Ischnogasteroides is an Afrotropical and Palearctic genus of potter wasps. It currently includes the following species:
Paravespa is an Afrotropical and Palearctic genus of potter wasps.
Gymnomerus is a monotypic Palearctic genus of potter wasps. The sole species is Gymnomerus laevipes.
Jucancistrocerus is a Palearctic genus of potter wasps. The currently species assigned to Jucancistrocerus are:
Mitrodynerus is a monotypic genus of potter wasps with the single member being endemic to Sri Lanka.
Onychopterocheilus is a Palearctic genus of potter wasps.
Paragymnomerus is a palearctic genus of potter wasps.
Parodontodynerus is a Palearctic genus of potter wasps.
Pseumenes is an Indomalayan, Australian and Palearctic genus of potter wasps.
Spinilabochilus is a Palearctic genus of potter wasps.
