Cicada killer wasps (

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Sphecius'') are large, solitary, ground-dwelling, predatory

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

s. They are so named because they hunt

cicada The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

s and provision their nests with them, after stinging and paralyzing them. Twenty-one

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

worldwide are recognized. The highest diversity occurs in the region between

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. In North America, the term "cicada killer wasp" usually refers to the most well-known species, the

eastern cicada killer ''Sphecius speciosus'', the eastern cicada-killer wasp, is a large, solitary Wasp, digger wasp species in the Family (biology), family Bembicidae. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them. Cicada killers exe ...

(''S. speciosus''). A few other related genera also are sometimes referred to as "cicada killers", e.g. '' Liogorytes'' in South America and '' Exeirus'' in Australia. The use of cicadas as prey is in keeping with the typical behavior of the tribe

Bembicini The Bembicini, or sand wasps, are a large tribe of bembicid wasps, comprising 20 genera. Bembicines are parasitoids on various groups of insects. The type of prey captured tends to be rather consistent within each genus, with flies (Diptera) b ...

, which tend to specialize on various members of the

Cicadomorpha Cicadomorpha is an infraorder of the insect order Hemiptera which contains the cicadas, leafhoppers, treehoppers, and spittlebugs. There are approximately 35,000 described species worldwide. Distributed worldwide, all members of this group are ...

as prey items.

Species

This list of species is probably complete as of March 31, 2009. It has been adapted from th
Catalog of ''Sphecius'' species
(California Academy of Sciences). Notable

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are also given. More recently, it has been suspected that the western cicada killer ('' S. grandis'') represents more than one species. Also, some evidence suggests that either the

('' S. speciosus'') has a subspecies or closely related species that mimics the Pacific cicada killer ('' S. convallis''). Alternatively, when they were already well distinct species, significant

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

ization has occurred between them, though not enough to fully overcome their

reproductive isolation The mechanisms of reproductive isolation are a collection of evolutionary mechanisms, ethology, behaviors and physiology, physiological processes critical for speciation. They prevent members of different species from producing offspring, or ensu ...

. * '' Sphecius antennatus'' (Klug, 1845) (Southern and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Central Asia) * '' Sphecius citrinus'' Arnold, 1929 (South Africa) * '' Sphecius claripennis'' Morice, 1911 (North Africa) * '' Sphecius conicus'' (Germar, 1817) (Balkans, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Greece) ** ''Sphecius conicus creticus'' de Beaumont, 1965 (Crete) ** ''Sphecius conicus syriacus'' (Klug, 1845) (Syria to China) * '' Sphecius convallis'' Patton, 1879 – Pacific cicada killer (Mexico: Baja California, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora; USA: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington) * ''

Sphecius grandidieri Cicada killer wasps (genus ''Sphecius'') are large, solitary, ground-dwelling, predatory wasps. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them, after stinging and paralyzing them. Twenty-one species worldwide are ...

'' (de Saussure, 1887) (Madagascar) * '' Sphecius grandis'' (Say, 1823) – western cicada killer (Costa Rica; Mexico: Baja California, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Yucatán; Nicaragua; USA: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington) * '' Sphecius hemixanthopterus'' Morice, 1911 (Algeria) * '' Sphecius hogardii'' (Latreille, 1806) – Caribbean cicada killer (Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, USA: southern Florida) ** ''Sphecius hogardii bahamas'' Krombein, 1953 (Bahama Islands: Bimini) * '' Sphecius intermedius'' Handlirsch, 1895 (Algeria) * '' Sphecius lutescens'' (Radoszkowski, 1877) (Central Asia) * '' Sphecius malayanus'' Handlirsch, 1895 (Indonesia: Timor, Sumbava) * '' Sphecius milleri'' R.Turner, 1915 (Zambia) ** ''Sphecius milleri aurantiacus'' Arnold, 1940 (Ethiopia) * '' Sphecius nigricornis'' (Dufour, 1838) (Southern and Eastern Europe, North Africa) * '' Sphecius pectoralis'' (F.Smith, 1856) (Australia) * ''

Sphecius persa Cicada killer wasps (genus ''Sphecius'') are large, solitary, ground-dwelling, predatory wasps. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them, after stinging and paralyzing them. Twenty-one species worldwide are ...

'' Gussakovskij, 1933 (Iran, Afghanistan) * '' Sphecius quartinae'' (Gribodo, 1884) (Guinea, Somalia) * '' Sphecius schulthessi'' Roth, 1951 (North Africa) * '' Sphecius speciosus'' (Drury, 1773) – Eastern cicada killer (Central and North America: Honduras to Ontario, Canada) * '' Sphecius spectabilis'' (Taschenberg, 1875) – South American cicada killer (Brazil, Argentina) * '' Sphecius uljanini'' (Radoszkowski, 1877) (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran)

References

External links

cicada killers, ''Sphecius'' spp.
on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site {{Taxonbar, from=Q2710050 Bembicidae Biological pest control wasps Taxa named by Anders Gustaf Dahlbom