| Podalonia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Podalonia species | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Clade: | Euarthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Sphecidae |
| Subfamily: | Ammophilinae |
| Genus: | Podalonia Fernald, 1927 |
| Type species | |
| Podalonia violaceipennis (Lepeletier, 1845) | |
Podalonia is a genus of parasitoidal wasps in the family Sphecidae. [1]
The Sphecidae are a cosmopolitan family of wasps of the suborder Apocrita that includes sand wasps, mud daubers, and other thread-waisted wasps.
The genus is present worldwide with the exception of South America. [2] These wasps are similar to the sand wasps ( Ammophila ), but they have a much shorter petiole and the abdomen is slightly stronger. The thorax bears a small white patch.
Ammophila is the type genus of the subfamily Ammophilinae of the hunting wasp family Sphecidae. Ammophila is a large and cosmopolitan genus, with over 200 species, mostly occurring in the warmer regions of all continents apart from Antarctica.
In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and wasps in the order Apocrita.
The females lay their nests in the sand. They normally incubate in large, hairless caterpillars of moths (Noctuidae).
The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other families of the Noctuoidea. It was considered the largest family in Lepidoptera for a long time, but after regrouping Lymantriinae, Catocalinae and Calpinae within the family Erebidae, the latter holds this title now. Currently, Noctuidae is the second largest family in Noctuoidea, with about 1,089 genera and 11,772 species. However, this classification is still contingent, as more changes continue to appear between Noctuidae and Erebidae.
