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Apocrita

(Suborder)

Overview

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A Suborder in the Kingdom Animalia.

Taxonomy

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The Suborder Apocrita is a member of the Order Hymenoptera. Here is the complete "parentage" of Apocrita:

The Suborder Apocrita is further organized into finer groupings including:

Families

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Agaonidae

Fig wasps are of the family Agaonidae which pollinate figs or are otherwise associated with figs, a close relationship that has been at least 80 million years in the making. [more]

Ampulicidae

The Ampulicidae, or Cockroach wasps, is a small (approx. 200 species), primarily tropical group of wasps, all of which use various cockroaches as prey items for their larvae. They tend to have elongated jaws, a pronounced neck-like constriction behind the head, a strongly petiolate abdomen, and deep grooves on the thorax. Many are quite ant-like in appearance, though some are brilliant metallic blue or green. [more]

Andrenidae

The family Andrenidae is a large (nearly) cosmopolitan (absent in Australia) non-parasitic family, with most of the diversity in temperate and/or arid areas (warm temperate xeric), including some truly enormous genera (e.g., Andrena with over 1300 species, and Perdita with nearly 800). One of the subfamilies, Oxaeinae, are so different in appearance that they were typically accorded family status, but careful phylogenetic analysis reveals them to be an offshoot within the Andrenidae, very close to the Andreninae. [more]

Angarosphecidae

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Anomopterellidae

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Aphelinidae

Aphelinidae is a moderate-sized family of tiny , with some 1160 described species in some 35 genera. These minute insects are challenging to study as they deteriorate rapidly after death unless extreme care is taken (e.g., preservation in ethanol), making identification of most museum specimens difficult. The larvae of the majority are primary parasitoids on Hemiptera, though other hosts are attacked, and details of the life history can be variable (e.g., some attack eggs, some attack pupae, and others are hyperparasites). They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and are extremely important as biological control agents. [more]

Apidae

The Apidae are a large family of , comprising the common honey bees, stingless bees (which are also cultured for honey), carpenter bees, orchid bees, cuckoo bees, bumblebees, and various other less well-known groups. The family Apidae presently includes all the genera that were previously classified in the families Anthophoridae and Ctenoplectridae, and most of these are solitary species, though a few are also cleptoparasites. The four groups that were subfamilies in the old family Apidae are presently ranked as tribes within the subfamily Apinae. This trend has been taken to its extreme in a few recent classifications that place all the existing bee families together under the name "Apidae" (or, alternatively, the non-Linnaean clade "Anthophila"), but this is not a widely-accepted practice. [more]

Archaeocynipidae

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Armaniidae

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Aulacidae

The family Aulacidae is a small cosmopolitan group, with 3 extant genera containing some 200 known species. They are primarily of wood wasps (Xiphydriidae) and xylophagous beetles (Cerambycidae and Buprestidae). They are closely related to the family Gasteruptiidae, sharing the feature of having the first and second metasomal tergites fused, and having the head on a long pronotal "neck", though they are not nearly as slender and elongate as Gasteruptiids, nor are their hind legs club-like, and they have a more sculptured thorax. They share the evanioid trait of having the metasoma attached very high above the hind coxae on the propodeum. [more]

Austrocynipidae

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Austroniidae

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Baissodidae

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Bethylidae

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Bethylonymidae

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Braconidae

Braconidae is a family of wasps and one of the richest families of insects. From the approximately 12,000 described species (the braconids), it is extrapolated that between 40,000 and 50,000 species exist worldwide. The species are grouped into about 45 subfamilies and 1,000 genera, some important ones being: Ademon, Aphanta, Asobara, Bracon hebetor, Cenocoelius, Chaenusa, Chorebidea, Chorebidella, Chorebus, Cotesia, Dacnusa, Microgaster, Opius, Parapanteles, Phaenocarpa, Psenobolus. [more]

Bradynobaenidae

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Ceraphronidae

Ceraphronidae is a small family with 14 genera and some 360 known species, though a great many species are still undescribed. It is a poorly-known group as a whole, though most are believed to be parasitoids (esp. of flies), and a few hyperparasitoids. Many are found in the soil, and of these, a number are wingless. [more]

Chalcididae

The Chalcididae are a moderate-sized within the Chalcidoidea, composed mostly of parasitoids and a few hyperparasitoids. The family is apparently polyphyletic, though the different subfamilies may each be monophyletic, and some may be elevated to family status in the near future. As presently defined, there are over 85 genera and >1455 species worldwide. They are often black with yellow, red, or white markings, rarely brilliantly metallic, with a robust mesosoma and very strong sculpturing. The hind femora are often greatly enlarged, with a row of teeth or serrations along the lower margin. [more]

Chrysididae

Commonly known as cuckoo wasps, the family Chrysididae is a very large cosmopolitan group (over 3000 described species) of parasitoid or cleptoparasitic wasps, often highly sculptured, with brilliantly metallic bodies and bright coloration (thus the common names jewel wasp, gold wasp, or emerald wasp are sometimes used). They are most diverse in desert regions of the world, as they are typically associated with solitary bee and wasp species, which are also most diverse in such areas. [more]

Colletidae

Colletidae is a of bees, and are often referred to collectively as plasterer bees, due to the method of smoothing the walls of their nest cells with secretions applied with their mouthparts; these secretions dry into a cellophane-like lining. There are 5 subfamilies, 54 genera, and over 2000 species, all of them evidently solitary, though many nest in aggregations. Two of the subfamilies, Euryglossinae and Hylaeinae, lack the external pollen-carrying apparatus (the scopa) that otherwise characterizes most bees, and instead carry the pollen in their crop. These groups, and in fact most genera in this family, have liquid or semi-liquid pollen masses on which the larvae develop. [more]

Crabronidae

Crabronidae is a large family of , that includes nearly all of the species formerly comprising the now-defunct superfamily Sphecoidea. It collectively includes well over 200 genera, containing well over 9000 species. Crabronids were originally a part of Sphecidae, but the latter name is now restricted to a separate family based on what was once the subfamily Sphecinae. As this change is very recent, it seems likely that the subfamilies of Crabronidae will each eventually be treated as families in their own right, as they have been treated as such by many authorities in the past (as in the catalog linked below). [more]

Cretevaniidae

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Cynipidae

Gall wasps (Cynipidae), also called Gallflies, are a family of the order and are classified with the Apocrita suborder of wasps in the superfamily Cynipoidea. About 1300 species of this generally very small creature (1-8 millimeters) are known worldwide, with about 360 species of 36 different genera in Europe and some 800 species in North America. [more]

Diapriidae

Diapriidae is a family of belonging to the order Hymenoptera. These tiny wasps (with an average length of 2-4 mm and never exceeding 8 mm) are typically parasitoids on the larvae and pupae of a wide range of insects, especially flies; a few are hyperparasitoids (e.g., Ismarus, which parasitize Dryinidae that attack leafhoppers). There are about 2300 described species in 150 genera, divided into four subfamilies, and the group has a global distribution. [more]

Dryinidae

Dryinidae is a family of insects with about 1,400 described species found worldwide. These are solitary wasps whose larvae are parasitoids on other insects. The only known hosts are Hemiptera, especially leafhoppers. [more]

Elasmidae

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Embolemidae

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Encyrtidae

Encyrtidae is a large family of , with some 3710 described species in some 455 genera (see List of encyrtid genera). The larvae of the majority are primary parasitoids on Hemiptera, though other hosts are attacked, and details of the life history can be variable (e.g., some attack eggs, some attack larvae,others are hyperparasites and there are even Encyrtidae that develops as parasitoids of ticks). They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and are extremely important as biological control agents. [more]

Eoichneumonidae

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Ephialtitidae

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Eucharitidae

Eucoilidae

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Eulophidae

Eulophidae is a large family of insects, with over 4,300 described species in some 300 genera (see list of eulophid genera). The family as presently defined also includes the genus Elasmus, which was previously treated as a separate family, "Elasmidae", and is now treated as a subfamily of Eulophidae. These minute insects are challenging to study as they deteriorate rapidly after death unless extreme care is taken (e.g., preservation in ethanol), making identification of most museum specimens difficult. The larvae of a very few species feed on plants but the majority are primary parasitoids on a huge range of arthropods at all stages of development. They are exceptional in that they are one of two hymenopteran families with some species that are known to parasitize Thysanoptera. Eulophids are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats (one is even aquatic, parasitising psephenid beetles). [more]

Eupelmidae

Eupelmidae is a family of in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. The group is apparently polyphyletic, though the different subfamilies may each be monophyletic, and may be elevated to family status in the near future. As presently defined, there are over 905 described species in 45 genera. The larvae of the majority are primary parasitoids, commonly on beetle larvae, though many other hosts are attacked, including spiders, and details of the life history can be variable (e.g., some attack eggs and others are hyperparasites). They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats. [more]

Eurytomidae

Eurytomidae is a family within the superfamily . The group is apparently polyphyletic, though the different subfamilies may each be monophyletic, and may be elevated to family status in the near future. As presently defined, there are some 1420 described species in 87 genera. [more]

Evaniidae

The ensign wasps or hatchet wasps (Evaniidae) are a fairly small family of very distinctive appearance. It numbers around 20 extant genera containing over 400 described species, and is found all over the world except in the polar regions. The larvae of these solitary wasps feed on cockroaches and develop inside the egg-cases (oothecae) of their hosts. [more]

Falsiformicidae

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Figitidae

Figitidae is a family of tiny with a worldwide distribution. There are currently about 1400 described species in 126 genera although many taxa undoubtedly await discovery. In contrast to most cynipoids, which are gall-inducing phytophages, these insects are parasitoids, the larvae feeding internally on the larvae of other insects. Flies are the commonest hosts but Neuroptera and other Hymenoptera are also targeted by various species. [more]

Formicidae

Ants are insects of the family Formicidae , and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. Today, more than 12,000 species are classified with upper estimates of about 14,000 species. They are easily identified by their elbowed antennae and a distinctive node-like structure that forms a slender waist. [more]

Gasteruptiidae

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Gerocynipidae

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Halictidae

Halictidae is a family of the order Hymenoptera consisting of small (> 4 mm) to midsize (> 8 mm) bees which are usually dark-colored and often metallic in appearance. Several species are all or partly green and a few are red; a number of them have yellow markings, especially the males, which commonly possess yellow faces, a pattern widespread among the various families of bees. They are commonly referred to as sweat bees (especially the smaller species), as they are often attracted to perspiration; when pinched, females can give a minor sting. [more]

Heloridae

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Heterogynaidae

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Ibaliidae

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Ichneumonidae

Ichneumonidae is a within the insect order Hymenoptera. Insects in this family are commonly called ichneumon wasps. Less exact terms are ichneumon flies (they are not closely related to true flies), or scorpion wasps due to the extreme lengthening and curving of the abdomen (scorpions are not insects). Simply but ambiguously these insects are commonly called "ichneumons", which is also a term for the Egyptian Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon); ichneumonids is often encountered as a less ambiguous alternative. Ichneumon wasps are important parasitoids of other insects. Common hosts are larvae and pupae of Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera. [more]

Jurapriidae

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Karatavitidae

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Leucospidae

Limnetidae

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Liopteridae

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Maimetshidae

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Megachilidae

The Megachilidae are a of (mostly) solitary bees whose pollen-carrying structure (called a scopa) is restricted to the ventral surface of the abdomen (rather than mostly or exclusively on the hind legs as in other bee families). Megachilid genera are most commonly known as mason bees and leafcutter bees, reflecting the materials they build their nest cells from (soil or leaves, respectively); a few collect plant or animal hairs and fibers, and are called carder bees. All species feed on nectar and pollen, but a few are cleptoparasites (informally called "cuckoo bees"), feeding on pollen collected by other megachilid bees. Parasitic species do not possess a scopa. The brightly colored scopa leads to a colloquial name used occasionally in North America - "Jelly-belly bees." Megachilid bees are among the world's most efficient pollinators because of their energetic swimming-like motion in the reproductive structures of flowers, which moves pollen , as needed for pollination. One of the reasons they are efficient pollinators is their frequency of visits to plants, but this is because they are extremely inefficient at gathering pollen; compared to all other bee families, megachilids require on average nearly ten times as many trips to flowers to gather sufficient resources to provision a single brood cell. [more]

Megalyridae

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Megaspilidae

Megaspilidae is a small family with 12 genera in two subfamilies, and some 450 known species, with a great many species still undescribed. It is a poorly-known group as a whole, though most are believed to be parasitoids (esp. of Sternorrhynchan Hemiptera), and a few hyperparasitoids. Many are found in the soil, and of these, a number are wingless. [more]

Melittidae

The family Melittidae is a small family, with some 60 species in 4 genera, restricted to Africa and the northern temperate zone. Historically, the family has included the Dasypodaidae and Meganomiidae as subfamilies, but recent molecular studies indicate that Melittidae (sensu lato) was paraphyletic, so each of the three historical subfamilies is now accorded family status, with Dasypodaidae as the basal group of bees, followed by Meganomiids and Melittids, which are sister taxa.. [more]

Mesoserphidae

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Monomachidae

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Mutillidae

Mutillidae are a of wasps whose wingless females resemble ants. Their common name velvet ant refers to their dense hair which may be red, black, white, silver, or gold. They are known for their extremely painful sting, facetiously said to be strong enough to kill a cow, hence the common name cow killer or cow ant is applied to some species. [more]

Mymaridae

Fairyflies are tiny wasps that are egg belonging to the Chalcidoidea, are non-metallic, 0.2 - 4.0mm in length and have a global distribution. Their family Mymaridae includes Alpatus magnimius (0.21 mm., male), the smallest discovered species in the class Insecta. Fairyflies can be found at great altitude, their small size leading to easy dispersal by wind currents. The largest of fairyflies have a wingspan of 3mm. [more]

Mymarommatidae

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Ormyridae

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Paleomelittidae

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Pelecinidae

The genus Pelecinus is the only living member of the family Pelecinidae (there are also two fossil genera), and contains only three species restricted to the . One species, Pelecinus polyturator, occurs from North through South America, and the others occur in Mexico (Pelecinus thoracicus) and South America (Pelecinus dichrous). The females are glossy wasps, very long (up to 7 cm) and the abdomen is extremely attenuated, used to lay eggs directly on scarab larvae buried in the soil. [more]

Peradeniidae

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Perilampidae

The Perilampidae are a small within the Chalcidoidea, composed mostly of hyperparasitoids. The family is closely related to the Eucharitidae, and the eucharitids appear to have evolved from within the Perilampidae, thus rendering the family paraphyletic (if the two families are joined in the future, the name that has precedence is Eucharitidae). As presently defined, there are 15 genera and >270 species worldwide. They are often brilliantly metallic (especially blue or green), with a robust mesosoma and a small, triangular metasoma (swollen and bulbous in Philomidinae). They are generally very strongly sculptured. The prothorax is typically very broad and disclike, and the labrum is multidigitate, a feature shared with the Eucharitidae. [more]

Platygastridae

The family Platygastridae (sometimes incorrectly spelled Platygasteridae) is a large group (over 1100 species) of exclusively parasitoid wasps, mostly very small (1-2 mm), black, and shining, with elbowed antennae that have an 8-segmented flagellum. The wings most often lack venation, though they may have slight fringes of setae. [more]

Plumariidae

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Pompilidae

Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps (in , species may be referred to colloquially as marabunta or marimbondo, though these names can be generally applied to any very large stinging wasps). The family is cosmopolitan, with some 4,200 species in 4 subfamilies. All species are solitary, and most capture and paralyze prey, though members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are cleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders. [more]

Praeaulacidae

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Praeichneumonidae

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Proctotrupidae

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Protimaspidae

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Pteromalidae

Pteromalidae is a very large family of , with some 3,450 described species in some 640 genera (the number used to be greater, but many species and genera have been reduced to synonymy in recent years). The subfamily-level divisions of the family are highly contentious and unstable, and there is no question that the family is completely artificial, composed of numerous distantly-related groups (polyphyletic). Accordingly, details of the life history range over nearly the entire range possible within the Chalcidoidea, though the majority are (as with most Chalcidoids) parasitoids of other insects. They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and many are important as biological control agents. [more]

Renyxidae

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Rhopalosomatidae

Rhopalosomatidae is a family of . It contains 37 extant species in four genera. Two fossil genera are known. [more]

Roproniidae

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Rotoitidae

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Sapygidae

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Scelionidae

The family Scelionidae is a very large cosmopolitan group (over 3000 described species in some 160 genera) of exclusively parasitoid wasps, mostly small (0.5-10 mm), often black, often highly sculptured, with (typically) elbowed antennae that have an 9- or 10-segmented flagellum. [more]

Sclerogibbidae

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Scolebythidae

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Scoliidae

Scoliidae, the scoliid , is a small family represented by 6 genera and about 20 species in North America, but they occur worldwide, with a total of around 300 species. They tend to be black, often marked with yellow or orange, and their wing tips are distinctively corrugated. Males are more slender and elongate than females, with longer antennae, but the sexual dimorphism is not as extreme as is common in the Tiphiidae, a closely-related family. [more]

Sierolomorphidae

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Signiphoridae

Signiphoridae (historically also known as Thysanidae) is a small family of in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. They are almost exclusively associated with scale insects, either as parasitoids or hyperparasitoids of other parasitic wasps or flies. There are only some 45 species in 4 genera, and they are primarily tropical and subtropical in the New World. [more]

Sphecidae

Sphecidae (, 1802) is a cosmopolitan family of wasps that include digger wasps, mud daubers and other familiar types that all fall under the category of thread-waisted wasps. Both of the traditional definitions of the Sphecidae (the conservative one, where all the sphecoid wasps other than ampulicids and heterogynaids were in a single large family, and the more refined one, where the 7 large sphecid subfamilies were each elevated to family rank) have recently been shown to be paraphyletic, and the most recent classification is closer to the conservative scheme; the families Heterogynaidae and Ampulicidae are the sister taxa to what are now two families (instead of one), the Sphecidae and Crabronidae. Thus, the bulk of the sphecoid wasps are now placed in Crabronidae, and Sphecidae per se is a much more restricted concept, equivalent to what used to be the subfamily Sphecinae. [more]

Sphecomyrmidae

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Stigmaphronidae

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Stolamissidae

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Tanaostigmatidae

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Tetracampidae

Tiphiidae

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Torymidae

Torymidae is a family of that consists of attractive metallic species with enlarged hind legs, and generally with a long ovipositor. Many are parasitoids on gall-forming insects, and some are phytophagous (plant-eating) species, sometimes usurping the galls formed by other insects. There are over 960 species in ca. 70 genera worldwide. They are best recognized in that they are one of the few groups of Chalcidoidea in which the cerci are visible. [more]

Trichogrammatidae

The family Trichogrammatidae are tiny wasps in the that include some of the smallest of all insects, with most species having adults less than 1 mm in length. There are over 840 species in ca. 80 genera worldwide. Trichogrammatids parasitize the eggs of many different orders of insects. As such, they are among the more important biological control agents known, attacking many pest insects (esp. Lepidopterans). [more]

Trigonalyidae

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Vanhorniidae

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Vespidae

The Vespidae are a large (nearly 5,000 species), diverse, cosmopolitan family of , 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 only last 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 (also true of some stenogastrines). [more]

At least 3,445 species and subspecies belong to the Family Vespidae.

More info about the Family Vespidae may be found here.

Sources

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Last Revised: September 22, 2009
2009/09/22 23:39:03