The Bembicidae comprise a large family of apoid wasps that includes over 80 genera and over 1800 species which have a worldwide distribution. They excavate nests in the soil, frequently in sandy soils, and store insects of several orders, for example

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advance ...

Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – gras ...

Hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising more than 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from ...

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

and

Odonata Odonata is an order of predatory flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies (as well as the '' Epiophlebia'' damsel-dragonflies). The two major groups are distinguished with dragonflies (Anisoptera) usually being bulkier with ...

in the burrows. Some species are kleptoparasites of other Bembicidae. The different subgroups of Bembicidae are each quite distinctive, and rather well-defined, with clear morphological and behavioral differences between them.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

Bembicids were originally a part of a single large family, the

Sphecidae The Sphecidae are a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family of wasps of the suborder Apocrita that includes Ammophilinae, sand wasps, mud daubers, and other thread-waisted wasps. The name Sphecidae was formerly given to a much larger g ...

, then for many years were treated as a separate family, and recently have been placed back into a larger family, the Crabronidae.

Gallery

Saygorytes phaleratus.jpg, '' Saygorytes phaleratus'' Bembix sp.jpg, ''Bembix'' sp. in its habitat, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

References

External links

Bugguide.net
Bembicidae Apocrita families {{Apoidea-stub