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Isodontia Patton (Grass carrying wasps)

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

Isodontia Patton, 1880

Classification

Isodontia leonina (de Saussure, 1890)

Isodontia longiventris (de Saussure, 1867)

Isodontia pelopoeiformis (Dahlbom, 1845)

Isodontia simoni du Buysson, 1898

Isodontia stanleyi (Kohl, 1890)

Distribution

Worldwide.

Biology

Use pre-existing cavities as nest sites e.g. hollow stems, crevices in rocky situations, old bee or wasp burrows in the ground. They use grass stems and other plant material to divide up and seal their nest, carrying the stem beneath them in flight. They prey on grasshoppers in the family Tettigoniidae, and crickets in the family Gryllidae and occasionally cockroaches (Blattidae) (Bohart & Menke, 1976).

References

Arnold, G. 1928. The Sphegidae of South Africa. Part XI. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 12: 338-375.

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.

Cameron, P.  1908. Hymenoptera, 7. Fossores, pp. 197-296 in Y. Sjöstedt (editor). Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der schwedischen zoologischen Expedition nach dem Kilimanjaro, dem Meru und den umgebenden Massaisteppen Deutsch-Ostafrikas 1905-1906, 2. Band, Abteilung 8-14. P. Palmquists Aktiebolag, Stockholm. 844 pp., 10 pls. (cover dated 1910, but p. 294 dated Mar 1908).

Dahlbom, A.G. 1845. Hymenoptera Europeae praecipue borealia, I, 3. Tabula Examinationis Synoptica Speciorum Pompilidarum 1845: 410-465.

du Buysson R. 1898. Voyage de M. E. Simon dans l'Afrique australe (janvier-avril 1893). Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 66: 351-363, pl. 11. (volume dated 1898, but reprints dated 1897).
Kohl, FF. 1890. Die Hymenopterengruppe der Sphecinen. I. Monographie der natürlichen Gattung Sphex Linné (sens. lat.). Annalen des k.k. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums 5:77-194, pls. VIII-XII, 317-462.

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.

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 Cape Town).


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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