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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.

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.

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 2004-2012 Iziko Museums

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