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Chlorion Latrielle

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera; Superfamily: Apoidea; Family: Sphecidae; Subfamily: Chloriontinae)

Chlorion Latrielle, 1809

Classification

 

Chlorion funereum Gribodo, 1879 (Ethiopia)

 

Chlorion maxillosum maxillosum (Poiret, 1787) (Ethiopia, Libya, Somalia)

Chlorion maxillosum ciliatum (Fabricius, 1787) (Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania)

 

Chlorion splendidum Fabricius, 1804 (Ethiopia, India, Madagascar, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan)

Distribution

Worldwide.

Biology

Prey on large crickets (Brachytrypes membraneous and B. megacephalus) living in burrows in the soil. Females dig burrows that intersect with the cricket's burrow so they can attack the cricket from behind. If the cricket emerges it is captured and stung repeatedly above ground. The female grasps the cricket's thorax with its suitably large mandibles. An egg is laid on the first segment of the abdomen. The cricket recovers shortly after being stung and digs a new burrow. The wasp larvae does not consume all of the cricket, which dies during larval development. Pupation takes place in the burrow (Bohart & Menke, 1976; Gess & Gess, 2014).

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 SK, Gess FW 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)


Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2024. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

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