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Pompilidae

Spider hunting wasps of Africa and Madagascar

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera; Superfamily: Vespoidea)

Classification

Distribution

Worldwide. Highest species richness in tropical and subtropical regions.

Diversity

Worldwide: 5000 species in 230 genera.

Biology

Predators of spiders. A single egg is layed on or in the abdomen of a spider that has been paralysed by the sting of the female wasp, either in the spider's own burrow or on a spider that has been paralysed, dragged and placed in a secluded crack, crevice, excavated burrow, or mud nest made by the wasp. Some species are cleptoparasites of other species, laying their egg on a previously paralysed and concealed spider.

External links

The Pompilid Project is a collaborative effort between James Pitts and Carol von Dohlen at Utah State University and a retired world authority on pompilids, Marius Wasbauer.

References

Arnold, G. 1932. The Psammocharidae of the Ethiopian region. Part I. Subfamily Pepsinae. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 14: 284-396.

Arnold, G. 1932. The Psammocharidae of the Ethiopian region. Part II. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 15: 41-122.

Arnold, G. 1933. Entomological expedition to Abyssinia, 1926-7. Hymenoptera, II.: Sphegidae and Psammocharidae. With an introductory note and supplementary list by Hugh Scott, Sc. D. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History 11: 351-371.

Arnold, G. 1933. New African Hymenoptera. Occasional Papers of the Rhodesian Museum 2: 51-56.

Arnold, G. 1934. The Psammocharidae of the Ethiopian region. Part III. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 15: 283-399.

Arnold, G. 1934. New African Hymenoptera No. 2. Occasional Papers of the Rhodesian Museum 3: 18-28.

Arnold, G. 1935. The Psammocharidae of the Ethiopian region. Part IV. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 15: 413-483.

Arnold, G. 1935. Scientific results of the Vernay-Lang Kalahari expedition, March to September, 1930. Sphegidae and Psammocharidae. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 16: 497-505.

Arnold, G. 1935. Mission J. de Lépinay au Soudan Français (1933-1934) (Douzième note). Hyménoptères. On some fossorial Hymenoptera from the Soudan. Bulletin de la Société des Sciences Naturelles du Maroc 15: 1-9.

Arnold, G. 1935. Some considerations on a recent classification of the family Psammocharidae (Hymenoptera). Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia 4: 29-30.

Arnold, G. 1936. The Psammocharidae of the Ethiopian region. Part V. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 18: 73-12.

Arnold, G. 1936. The Psammocharidae of the Ethiopian region. Part VI. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 18: 415-460.

Arnold, G. 1936. New African Hymenoptera No. 3. Occasional Papers of the Rhodesian Museum 5: 1-38, pl. I.

Arnold, G. 1937. The Psammocharidae of the Ethiopian region. Part VII. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 19: 1-98.

Arnold, G. 1939. Notes on some African Pompilidae and descriptions of new species. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia 8: 49-65.

Arnold, G. 1940. New species of African Hymenoptera No. 4. Annals of the Transvaal Museum

20: 101-143, pl. V.

Arnold, G. 1943. Hymenoptera. Family Psammocharidae. Exploration du Parc National Albert. I. Mission G.F. de Witte (1933-1935), Brussels, Fasc. 43:******

Arnold, G. 1944. New species of African Hymenoptera. No. 5. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia 11: 1-38.

Arnold, G. 1946. New species of African Hymenoptera. No. 6. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia 12: 63-97.

Arnold, G. 1947. New species of African Hymenoptera. No. 7. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia 13: 131-167.

Arnold, G. 1948. New species of African Hymenoptera. No. 8. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia 14: 213-250.

Arnold, G. 1949. New species of African Hymenoptera. No. 9. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia 15: 261-275.

Arnold, G. 1951. Sphecidae and Pompilidae (Hymenoptera) collected by Mr. K.M. Guichard in West Africa and Ethiopia. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology 2: 95-183.

Arnold, G. 1952. New species of African Hymenoptera No. 10. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia No. 17:460-493.

Arnold, G. 1955. New species of African Hymenoptera No. 11. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia No. 20:733-762.

Arnold, G. 1956. New species of African Hymenoptera No. 12. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia No. 21B:52-77.

Arnold, G. 1958. New species of African Hymenoptera No. 13. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia No. 22B:119-143.

Arnold, G. 1959. New species of African Hymenoptera No. 14. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia No. 23B:316-339.

Arnold, G. 1960. New species of African Hymenoptera No. 15. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia No. 24B:452-488.

Arnold, G. 1960. Aculeate Hymenoptera from the Drakensberg Mountains, Natal. Annals of the Natal Museum 15:79-87.

Arnold, G. 1962. New species of African Hymenoptera No. 16. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia No. 26B:844-855.

Banks, N. 1940. Some Psammocharidae from Madagascar (Hymenoptera). Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 92: 335-362.

Brothers, D.J. & Finnamore A.T. 1993. Superfamily Vespoidea (pp. 161-278). In GOULET, H. & HUBER, J. (eds). Hymenoptera of the World: an identification guide to families. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp.

Day, M.C. 1988. Spider wasps. Hymenoptera: Pompilidae. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects Vol. VI, Part 4. Royal Entomological Society of London: London.

Elliott, M.G. 2007. Annotated catalogue of the Pompilidae (Hymenoptera) of Australia. Zootaxa 1428: 1–83.

Gess FW. 1981. Some aspects of an ethological study of the aculeate wasps and the bees of a karroid area in the vicinity of Grahamstown, South Africa. Annals of the Cape Provincial Museum, Natural History 14: 1–80.

Gess FW, Gess SK. 1974. An ethological study of Dichragenia pulchricoma (Arnold) (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), a southern African spider-hunting wasp which builds a turreted subterranean nest. Annals of the Cape Provincial Museums 9: 187–214.

Gess FW, Gess SK. 1976. Ethological notes on Dichragenia neavei (Kohl) (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), an African spider-hunting wasp building a turreted, subterranean nest. Annals of the Cape Provincial Museums 11: 129–134.

Gess, F.W. & Gess S.K.G. 1980. Spider vanquishers: the nesting of Tachyompilus ignitus (Smith) and Batozonellus fuliginosus (Klug). The Eastern Cape Naturalist 69: 4-7.

Lepeletier, A. 1845. Histoire naturelle des insectes, Hyménoptères III. Pompilidae. Librairie encyclopédique de Roret, Paris. 646 pp.

Pate, V.S.L. 1946. The Generic Names of the Spider Wasps (Psammocharidae olim Pompilidae) and Their Type Species (Hymenoptera, Aculeata).Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 72: 65-137.

Picker, M., Griffiths, C & Weaving, A. 2002. Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.

Pitts, J.P., Wasbauer, M.S. and Von Dohlen, C.D. (2006). Preliminary morphological analysis of relationships between the spider wasp subfamilies (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): revisiting an old problem. Zoologica Scripta 35: 1–22.

Wasbauer, M. S. 1995. Pompilidae. In: P. E. Hanson & I. D. Gauld (Eds) The Hymenoptera of Costa Rica (pp. 522–539). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Credits

Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums)

Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

Copyright 2004-2013 Iziko Museums of South Africa

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