''Belonogaster'' (''belone'' - "needle", ''gaster'' - "belly") is a large genus of mainly

Afrotropical The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopi ...

quasisocial Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother wasp ...

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, although some species occur in

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

and two extend as far as

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. They have characteristics of both the

eusocial Eusociality ( Greek 'good' and social) is the highest level of organization of sociality. It is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generations wit ...

and the solitary wasps. ''Belonogaster'' constructs communal paper nests where the larvae are fed on masticated, soft-bodied insects such as

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s.Belonogaster
waspweb.org The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is '' Belonogaster juncea'', which consists of two subspecies: '' Belonogaster juncea colonialis'' and '' Belonogaster juncea juncea''. ''Belanogaster'' wasps are an important food source for wintering

European honey buzzard The European honey buzzard (''Pernis apivorus''), also known as the pern or common pern, is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Taxonomy The European honey buzzard was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in ...

s (''Pernis apivorus'') in

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

. In African traditional medicine, wasps of the genus are cooked with plant roots and consumed to cure various childhood sicknesses, as well as having ceremonial use similar to that of honey bees (''

Apis mellifera The western honey bee or European honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name ''Apis'' is Latin for 'bee', and ''mellifera'' is the Latin for 'honey-bearing' or 'honey-carrying', ...

''). Some birds choose to build their nests near the nests of ''Belonogaster'' for protection, including

mousebirds The mousebirds are birds in the order Coliiformes. They are the sister group to the clade Cavitaves, which includes the Leptosomiformes (the cuckoo roller), Trogoniformes (trogons), Bucerotiformes (hornbills and hoopoes), Piciformes (woodpecker ...

and

weavers Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainment ...

Species

The following species are included: *'' Belonogaster abyssinica'' Buysson, 1906 *'' Belonogaster acaulis'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster adenensis'' Giordani Soika, 1957 *'' Belonogaster apicalis'' Saussure, 1900 *'' Belonogaster arabica'' Giordani Soika, 1958 *'' Belonogaster atrata'' Schulthess, 1912 *'' Belonogaster aurata'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster barbata'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster bicolor'' Saussure, 1900 *'' Belonogaster bimaculata'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster brachystoma'' Kohl, 1894 *'' Belonogaster brevipetiolata'' Saussure, 1891 *'' Belonogaster brevitarsus'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster brunnea'' Ritsema, 1874 *'' Belonogaster brunnescens'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster clypeata'' Kohl, 1894 *'' Belonogaster dubia'' Kohl, 1894 *'' Belonogaster eumenoides'' Saussure, 1891 *'' Belonogaster facialis'' Buysson, 1908 *'' Belonogaster ferruginea'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster filiventris'' (Saussure, 1853) *'' Belonogaster flava'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster freyi'' Buysson, 1909 *'' Belonogaster fuscipennis'' Buysson, 1909 *'' Belonogaster grisea'' (Fabricius, 1775) *'' Belonogaster guerini'' (Saussure, 1853) *'' Belonogaster hildebrandti'' Saussure, 1891 *'' Belonogaster hirsuta'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster jordani'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster juncea'' (Fabricius, 1781) *'' Belonogaster keiseri'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster kelnerpillautae'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster kohli'' Schulz, 1906 *'' Belonogaster lateritia'' Gerstaecker, 1855 *'' Belonogaster leonhardii'' Buysson, 1909 *'' Belonogaster leonina'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster levior'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster libera'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster longitarsus'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster macilenta'' (Fabricius, 1781) *'' Belonogaster maculata'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster madecassa'' (Saussure, 1853) *'' Belonogaster maromandia'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster meneliki'' Gribodo, 1879 *'' Belonogaster multipunctata'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster neavei'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster nigricans'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster nitida'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster pennata'' Richards, 1982 *''

Belonogaster petiolata ''Belonogaster petiolata'' is a species of primitively eusocial wasp that dwells in southern Africa, in temperate or subhumid climate zones. This wasp species has a strong presence in South Africa and has also been seen in northern Johannesburg. ...

'' (Degeer, 1778) *'' Belonogaster pileata'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster prasina'' Saussure, 1891 *'' Belonogaster principalis'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster punctata'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster punctilla'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster pusilloides'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster rothkirchi'' Schulthess, 1914 *'' Belonogaster saeva'' Saussure, 1891 *'' Belonogaster saussurei'' Kirby, 1881 *'' Belonogaster somereni'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster tarsata'' Kohl, 1893 *'' Belonogaster turbulenta'' Kohl, 1894 *'' Belonogaster turgida'' Kohl, 1894 *'' Belonogaster ugandae'' Richards, 1982 *'' Belonogaster vasseae'' Buysson, 1906

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4035001 Traditional African medicine Vespidae Hymenoptera of Africa