Waist Wasps

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Waist Wasps
Common wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

Common wasp ( Vespula vulgaris )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Subclass : Flying insects (Pterygota)
Superordinate : New winged wing (Neoptera)
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Subordination : Waist Wasps
Scientific name
Apocrita
Gerstaecker , 1867
Partial orders

The apocrita (Apocrita), also Schnürwespen called, are one of the two sub-orders of Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera). They include the two groups of Legims (Parasitica or Terebrantes), in which most species use their ovipositor to lay their eggs, and the Stechimmen or Aculeata, in which this has been transformed into a defensive sting .

biodiversity

According to an overview in 2013, hymenoptera comprise more than 150,000 species, of which the waist wasps make up more than nine-tenths (around 93 percent). It is assumed, however, that a multiple of species exist that is still undescribed . In the case of larger collections, especially of small, parasitoid wasp species from the tropics, 90 percent and more of the species caught are still unknown to science. Serious estimates suggest 1 million species or more. Large families are, for example, the parasitic wasps with nearly 25,000 species braconids with nearly 20,000 species, wasps with nearly 5,000 species of ants with over 12,000 species. About 18,000 species belong to the bees . The superfamily Apoidea , d. H. Combined bees and digger wasps comprises around 26,000 species.

Den of Waist Wasps

In contrast to the plant wasps (Symphyta), the waist wasps have the characteristic abdominal incision (the " wasp waist "). This incision is always present, but can be covered by fur hair, for example in bumblebees . However, it only appears to separate the chest ( thorax ) and abdomen ( abdomen ). From an anatomical point of view, the thorax and the first abdominal segment ( propodeum ) form a unit known as the mesosoma . The rest of the abdomen is called the metasoma and includes the stalk member ( petiolus ) and the gaster . The petiolus is formed differently. In many groups there is only a constriction in the front section of the second abdominal segment, in others it consists of one, very rarely two separate segments. Other morphological autapomorphies of the waist wasps are more difficult to see; they include the shape of the hypopharynx , the absence of so-called cenchri (these are roughening on the upper side of the thorax that fix the wings in the rest position like a Velcro fastener) and the loss of the anal veins in the wing veins Forewing. The parasitoid way of life of the larvae is also characteristic of all more basal waist wasps ; these are always legless and eyeless and maggot-shaped.

The size of the animals ranges from the tiny wasps (0.2 millimeter parasites ) to the hornets ( Vespa ) with a body length of sometimes over five centimeters.

The wingspan varies greatly from 1 to 100 millimeters; the "giant flyer" is the species Pepsis heros native to South America .

Way of life

The parasitoid lifestyle of the larvae is typical of the waist wasps. The females of the Legims lay an egg with their laying stinger or in a host species, typically an insect larva. The hatching waist wasp larva feeds on its living host, but kills it at the end of its development and usually eats it up almost completely. Many and almost all of the basal voices are parasitoids. In some groups, however, the female has switched to a more advanced form of brood care. Here, too, insects (or other arthropods) are stung as larval food and paralyzed, but then transported to a nest. The developing larva can then use several of them as a food base. Few groups have switched to a herbivorous (phytophagous) diet as a secondary means. In gall wasps, the larva feeds on plant tissue. The bees do not provide their offspring with insects, but use pollen and nectar.

The Apocrita include some highly developed, state-building families. Such animal societies are found in almost all ants (Formicinae), real wasps (Vespinae) and bees (Apiformes).

The systematics of the waist wasps

The sister group of the waist wasps is the small family of the Orussidae , with a parasitoid way of life.

The female hymenoptera are the only animals among the holometabolic insects to have a laying stinger ( ovipositor ). A distinction is made according to the formation of the ovipositor Legimmen (Terebrantia) and Stechimmen (Aculeata). In the case of the stinging voice, the ovipositor is converted into a weir sting . Only the Apocrita are a monophyletic taxon. The Legims form a paraphyletic group, which means that the Apocrita are not their sister group , but come from them, so that they are more closely related to some of them than they are to each other.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Alexandre P. Aguiar et al. (2013): Order Hymenoptera. In Zhang, Z.-Q. (Editor): Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness (Addenda 2013). Zootaxa 3703, 1-82.
  2. ^ A b John T. Huber: Biodiversity of Hymenoptera. Chapter 12 in Robert G. Foottit & Peter H. Adler: Insect Biodiversity: Science and Society. Blackwell Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-1-405-15142-9
  3. ↑ Michael J. Sharkey (2007): Phylogeny and Classification of Hymenoptera. Zootaxa 1668: 521-548.
  4. ^ Charles D. Michener: The Bees of the World. Second Edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2007, ISBN 978-0-8018-8573-0 .
  5. ↑ Lard Vilhelmsen (2001): Phylogeny and classification of the extant basal lineages of the Hymenoptera (Insecta). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 131: 393-442. doi : 10.1006 / zjls.2000.0255

Web links

Commons : Waist Wasps  - Collection of images, videos and audio files