Polemistus braunsii (Kohl)

Polemistus braunsii (Kohl, 1905). Specimen in Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town (SAMC).




Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).



Photographs © Vida van der Walt (Pretoria).


Females collecting resin from a Gardenia tree for closing up their nest entrances with. Kwali Camp, Malilangwe, Chiredzi, Zimbabwe. Photographs © Alan Manson (Hilton). https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/77761686 Video of Polemistus braunsii female sealing her nest entrance after provisioning a bee hotel hole with aphids for her larvae to develop on. Videography by Gareth Webb (tutus loco) www.beehotels.co.za.

Distribution	South Africa.
Biology	Nest in existing holes in dead wood and provision with aphids. The nests are sealed with a transparent resin-like substance (Bohart & Menke, 1976). Parasitized by Ecdamua macrotelus Walker, 1862 (Torymidae).
References	Bohart, R.M. & Menke, A. S. 1976. Sphecid Wasps of the World: a Generic Revision. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. Brothers D.J. 1999. Phylogeny and evolution of wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera, Chrysidoidea, Vespoidea and Apoidea) Zoologica Scripta 28: 233–250. Finnamore, A.T. & Michener, C.D. 1993. Superfamily Apoidea (pp. 279-357). In GOULET, H. & HUBER, J. (eds). Hymenoptera of the World: an identification guide to families. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp. Gess, S.K. & Gess, F.W. 2014. Wasps and bees in southern Africa. SANBI Biodiversity Series 24. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. 320 pp.
Links	CATALOG OF WORLD SPHECIDAE sensu lato (= Apoidea excluding bees) compiled by Wojciech J. Pulawski (California Academy of Sciences).
Credits	Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa), or © Vida van der Walt (Pretoria), or © Alan Manson (Hilton). Map illustration © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).