Wasps

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Wasps
Unidentified wasp probably Episyron sp.

Unidentified wasp probably Episyron sp.

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Subordination : Waist Wasps (Apocrita)
Partial order : Voices (Aculeata)
Superfamily : Vespoidea
Family : Wasps
Scientific name
Pompilidae
Latreille , 1804
Subfamilies
A wasp brings a paralyzed spider to its nest
Priocnemis sp.
A wasp opens the entrance to the underground nest to deposit the cocoon of a larva.
Barrel-shaped clay cells
Barrel wasp with jumping spider

The wasps (Pompilidae; formerly Psammocharidae) are a family of the hymenoptera (Hymenoptera). The family is distributed worldwide, with the exception of the polar regions. However, most species occur in the tropics and the hot regions of the world. The larvae of the wasps are parasitoids of spiders, the adult wasps feed on pollen . In good weather, the animals can be easily distinguished from other hymenoptera when they actively walk around on the vegetation close to the ground and look for their prey.

features

The autapomorphies of the wasps include a straight, centrally sloping furrow across the mesopleuron , a pair of heavily sclerotized sharp hooks on the back of the sixth sternum of the males and elongated parapenial lobes on the male genitals , which often have basal hooks.

The males of the wasps have antennae with 13 segments, the females only have 12. In the latter, the antennae in prepared animals curl up in a characteristic manner. The maxillary palps are six- limbed , the labial palps four-limbed. The mandibles have one or two teeth. The pronotum of the animals is flexibly connected to the mesonotum , the anterior attachment is usually well developed. The pronotum is either curved or angled backwards and extends backwards to the tegulae . The pronotal lobe overlaps the mesopleuron and also covers the stigma of the first thoracic segment. The fore wings usually have 10 closed cells, while most of the cells in the much smaller hind wings are fused together. The legs are elongated, their hips ( coxes ) are large and close together. The metasoma has seven visible segments in the males and six in the females. The females are significantly larger than the males of their kind. The males are also slimmer and they lack tarsal ridges.

The larvae have the typical build of the Vespoidea : They are legless and have mandibles. Their body is whitish, tapered forwards and backwards and somewhat flattened on the belly. It has bristles of different lengths on the back and on the pleura. The larvae have nine pairs of spiracles. The doll has characteristic, fleshy bumps on its body.

Way of life

Three groups of wasps differ based on their way of life. In the first group, which includes Aporus pollux or Arachnospila spissa , for example , the larvae develop as ectoparasites on free-living spiders. The female paralyzes a spider for a short time in order to lay her egg. The larva subsequently develops on the active spider until it is finally killed by the larva. The species of the second group, to which, for example, Auplopus carbonarius or Pompilus cinereus belong, create nests of various shapes, into which a paralyzed spider is introduced as a food supply for the larva. The nest is closed after the eggs are laid. The third group, such as the species of the genera Poecilagenia , Evagetes and Ceropales , consists of kleptoparasites , which steal the prey of other wasps in order to provide their brood with food. The larvae pupate in a brown, silk cocoon .

Most wasps are less specialized in particular species of spiders, but rather hunt spiders with a similar way of life. Nevertheless, only a small proportion of the spider species serve as potential prey. Only 13 of the 30 British spider families contain species that are hosts of the wasps. In total, there are only 10% of the spider species that come into question as prey. The female uses only one spider per wasp larva.

Systematics

The relationship of the wasps within the Vespoidea has not yet been fully clarified, but it is assumed that they are closely related either to the Rhopalosomatidae or to the ant wasps ( Mutillidae) and wasps (Tiphiidae). They are among the oldest representatives of the voice (Aculeata). The oldest known fossil find of a wasp was from the Middle Cretaceous Period ( Albium ). A wasp was found in around 100 million year old amber from Myanmar , which differs greatly from the recent genera, but also from other fossil specimens. It was described by Michael S. Engel and David A. Grimaldi and called Bryopompilus interfector . Wasps have also been found in the Baltic amber and from finds from the Eocene and Oligocene .

Wasps are represented around the world with around 5000 recent species . They are divided into four subfamilies. The previous division into six subfamilies was abandoned because the phylogenetic analysis based on morphological features allowed the Notocyphinae to be fully integrated into the Pompilinae and the Epipompilinae into the Ctenocerinae . However, there is still little molecular genetic work on wasps. In Central Europe there are around 100 species in Europe there are 284. As with other groups of insects, their biodiversity is significantly lower in the north than in the temperature-favored south. So far 169 species have been recorded from Italy, 97 species from Germany and 55 species from Finland. In the following, all recent subtaxa currently recognized in Europe down to the genus and all European species are listed if they do not yet have their own generic article:

Non-European species (selection)

supporting documents

literature

  • Bogdan Wiśniowski: Spider-hunting wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) of Poland. Ojców National Park, Ojców 2009, ISBN 83-60337-15-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bogdan Wiśniowski: Spider-hunting wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) of Poland. Ojców National Park, Ojców 2009, ISBN 83-60337-15-4 .
  2. ↑ Michael S. Engel and David A. Grimaldi: The First Cretaceous Spider Wasp (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 79, 4, pp. 359-368, Oct. 2006
  3. ↑ James P. Pitts, Marius S. Wasbauer Carol D. von Dohlen: Preliminary morphological analysis of relationships between the spider wasp subfamilies (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): revisiting an old problem. Zoologica Scripta, 35, 1, pp. 63-84, January 2006
  4. ↑ Heiko Bellmann : bees, wasps, ants. Hymenoptera of Central Europe . Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co KG, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-440-09690-4 .
  5. ↑ a b Pompilidae in Fauna Europaea. Retrieved April 23, 2011

Web links

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