ENY 3005 Family Identification

Hymenoptera: Sphecidae Pronunciation: SPHES-si-dee Common name: sphecid wasps

Identifying characteristics for the family Sphecidae include:

• Sphecid wasps are distinguished from vespids and pompilids by having the pronotum short and collarlike; small rounded lobes extend towards, but do not reach, the tegulae.
• Sphecids are distinguished from bees by have simple rather than branched body hairs and by the lack of a flattened hind tarsus.

• Mud daubers, thread-waisted wasps, and cicada killers are some of the species in the family Sphecidae.
• Sphecids are solitary wasps and each species provisions its nest with characteristic prey, e.g., bugs, grasshoppers, cicadas, planthoppers, flies, beetles, and spiders.

References:

• Page 350 and plate 16 in D. J. Borror and R. E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Page 385 in R. G. Bland and H. E. Jaques. 1978. How to Know the Insects, 3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 409 p.
• Page 724 in D. J. Borror, C. A. Triplehorn, and N. F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing. 875 p.
• Page 597 in H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell III. 1998. Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. 680 p.
• L. A. Stange. 2001. The Cicada Killers of Florida (Hymenoptera: Sphedidae). Fla. Dep. Agric. Cons. Serv., Div. Plant Ind., Entomology Circular No. 402. 2 p. PDF file.

Links to other web sites

• Solitary Wasps - Gordon's Insect World
• Cicada Killer Wasps
• Life Cycle of the Cicada Killer - A multimedia natural history
• Biological Control of Mole Crickets by Sphecid Wasps - Pictures and life cycle of Larra bicolor.