The Ceropalinae are a subfamily of the
Pompilidae
Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary (with the exception of some group-ne ...
, the spider wasps, containing two genera, whose members are
kleptoparasitic
Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct feeding, which can mean when fo ...
on other solitary wasps which hunt spiders, mainly fellow members of the Pompilidae.
The two genera within the Ceropalinae are
[Kimsey L.S. & Wasbauer MS 2004 Revision of New World Species of the Cleptoparasitic Pompilid Genus Irenangelus Schulz (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) ''Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society'' 77(4) 650-668]
*''
Ceropales
''Ceropales'' is a genus of kleptoparasitic spider wasps from the sub-family Ceropalinae of the family Pompilidae. They are characterised by the taking of the spider prey of other solitary wasps, mainly Pompilidae but members of the Sphecidae ...
''
Latreille, 1796
*''
Irenangelus
''Ireangelus'' is a genus of kleptoparasitic spider wasps from the sub-family Ceropalinae of the family Pompilidae. The genus has a pan tropical distribution, being known from Oriental, Neotropical, Australian, eastern Palearctic, and Madagasca ...
''
Schultz 1906
References
Apocrita subfamilies
{{apocrita-stub