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Vespoidea

(Superfamily)

Overview

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Vespoidea is a superfamily of order Hymenoptera of class Insecta, although older taxonomic schemes may vary in this categorization, particularly in their recognition of a now-obsolete superfamily Scolioidea. The members of this group are known as wasps and ants.

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Newer research based on four nuclear genes (elongation factor-1a F2 copy, long-wavelength rhodopsin, wingless and the D2?D3 regions of 28S ribosomal RNA?2700 bp in total) suggests that the higher-level relationships need to be changed, with Rhopalosomati dae as a sister group of the Vespidae and the clade Rhopalosomatidae + Vespidae as sister to all other vespoids and apoids. Additionally, superfamily Apoidea is found to be within the Vespoidea, suggesting the dismantling of the superfamily into many smaller superfamilies. Finally, families Mutillidae, Tiphiidae, and Bradynobaenidae were found to be paraphyletic.[2]

based on four nuclear genes (elongation factor-1a F2 copy, long-wavelength rhodopsin, wingless and the D2?D3 regions of 28S ribosomal RNA?2700 bp in total) suggests that the higher-level relationships need to be changed, with Rhopalosomatidae as a sister group of the Vespidae and the clade Rhopalosomatidae + Vespidae as sister to all other vespoids and apoids. Additionally, superfamily Apoidea is found to be within the Vespoidea, suggesting the dismantling of the superfamily into many smaller superfamilies. Finally, families Mutillidae, Tiphiidae, and Bradynobaenidae were found to be paraphyletic.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Brothers, D. J. 1999. Phylogeny and evolution of wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera, Chrysisoidea, Vespoidea, and Apoidea). Zoologica Scripta 28: 233-249.
  2. ^ Pilgrim, E., von Dohlen, C., & Pitts, J. (2008). "Molecular phylogenetics of Vespoidea indicate paraphyly of the superfamily and novel relationships of its component families and subfamilies". Zoologica Scripta 37 (5): 539?560. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00340.x. 

External links

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Taxonomy

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The Superfamily Vespoidea is a member of the Series Aculeata. Here is the complete "parentage" of Vespoidea:

The Superfamily Vespoidea is further organized into finer groupings including:

Families

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Armaniidae

[more]

Bradynobaenidae

Bradynobaenidae is a family of wasps similar to the Mutillidae. These species are often found in arid regions. [more]

Falsiformicidae

[more]

Formicidae

Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae () and, along with the related wasps and bees, 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. More than 12,500 out of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their elbowed antennae and a distinctive node-like structure that forms a slender waist. [more]

Limnetidae

[more]

Mutillidae

Mutillidae are a family of more than 3,000 species of wasp whose wingless females resemble ants. Their common name velvet ant refers to their dense pile of hair which most often is bright scarlet or orange but may also be black, white, silver, or gold. Their bright colors serve as aposematic signals. 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. Unlike a real ant, they do not have drones, workers, and queens. However, velvet ants do exhibit haplodiploid sex determination similar to other members of Vespoidea (JH Hunt 1999). [more]

Pompilidae

Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps (in South America, 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 5,000 species in 6 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]

Rhopalosomatidae

Rhopalosomatidae is a family of Hymenoptera. It contains about 68 extant species in four genera that are found worldwide. Three fossil genera are known. [more]

Sapygidae

[more]

Scoliidae

Scoliidae, the scoliid wasps, 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

[more]

Sphecomyrmidae

[more]

Tiphiidae

[more]

Vespidae

The Vespidae are a large (nearly 5,000 species), diverse, cosmopolitan family of wasps, including nearly all the known eusocial wasps and many 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). Many species are pollen vectors contributing to the pollination of several plants, being potential or even effective pollinators. [more]

At least 4,081 species and subspecies belong to the Family Vespidae.

More info about the Family Vespidae may be found here.

References

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  1. ^ Brothers, D. J. 1999. Phylogeny and evolution of wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera, Chrysisoidea, Vespoidea, and Apoidea). Zoologica Scripta 28: 233-249.
  2. ^ Pilgrim, E., von Dohlen, C., & Pitts, J. (2008). "Molecular phylogenetics of Vespoidea indicate paraphyly of the superfamily and novel relationships of its component families and subfamilies". Zoologica Scripta 37 (5): 539?560. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00340.x. 

Sources

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Last Revised: August 24, 2012
2012/08/24 13:22:32