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Classification and checklist of Afrotropical Psenidae

Checklist of psenid wasps of the Afrotropical region

Updated according to Branstetter et al. 2017 and Sann et al. 2018; 2021

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

Family Psenidae A. Costa, 1858

  • Genus Mimesa Shuckard, 1837

    • Mimesa empeyi van Lith, 1974 (South Africa)

  • Genus Psen Latreille, 1796

    • Psen congolus Leclercq, 1961 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Psen leclercqi van Lith, 1974 (Madagascar)

    • Psen patellatus Arnold,. 1924 (Namibia)

    • Psen silvaticus Arnold, 1924 (Zimbabwe)

  • Genus Pseneo Malloch, 1933

    • Pseneo madecassus (Arnold, 1945) (Madagascar)

  • Genus Psenulus Kohl, 1897

    • Psenulus alboscutellatus Arnold, 1945 (Madagascar)

    • Psenulus alveolatus van Lith, 1974 (Zimbabwe)

    • Psenulus avernus Leclercq, 1961 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Psenulus benoiti Leclercq, 1961 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Pseunulus bidentatus Cameron, 1908 (Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Psenulus bidentatus pallidus van Lith, 1974 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Psenulus bidentatus rubrocaudatus Turner, 1912 (South Africa)

    • Psenulus capensis Brauns, 1899 (Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa)

    • Psenulus dilectus (de Saussure, 1892) (Madagascar)

    • Psenulus ealae Leclercq, 1961 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Psenulus erusus Leclercq, 1961 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Psenulus fulgidus Arnold, 1945 (Madagascar)

    • Psenulus garambae Leclercq, 1961 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Psenulus ghesquierei Leclercq, 1961 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Psenulus jacoti van Lith, 1974 (South Africa)

    • Psenulus kohli Arnold, 1923 (Zimbabwe)

    • Psenulus latiannulatus (Cameron, 1908) (Kenya)

    • Psenulus latiannulatus basilewskyi Leclercq, 1955 (Rwanda)

    • Psenulus luctuosus Arnold, 1929 (Zimbabwe)

    • Psenulus lusingae Leclercq, 1961 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Psenulus patei Arnold, 1940 (Zimbabwe)

    • Psenulus paulisae Leclercq, 1961 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Psenulus reticulosus Arnold, 1945 (Madagascar)

    • Psenulus rugifrons van Lith, 1974 (Ethiopia)

    • Psenulus saltitans Arnold, 1958 (Zimbabwe)

    • Psenulus stevensoni Arnold, 1940 (Zimbabwe)

    • Psenulus trevirus Leclercq, 1961 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

    • Psenulus turneri Arnold, 1927 (South Africa)

References

Aguiar AP, Deans AR, Engel MS, Forshage M, Huber JT, Jennings JT, Johnson NF, Lelej AS, Longino JT, Lohrmann V, Miko I. 2013. Order Hymenoptera. In: Zhang, Z.-Q.(Ed.) Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness (Addenda 2013). Zootaxa 3703: 51-62. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3703.1.12

Branstetter MG, Danforth BN, Pitts JP, Faircloth BC, Ward PS, Buffington ML, Gates MW, Kula RR, Brady SG. 2017. Phylogenomic insights into the evolution of stinging wasps and the origins of ants and bees. Current Biology 27: 1019-1025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.03.027

Branstetter MG, Childers AK, Cox-Foster D, Hopper KR, Kapheim KM, Toth AL, Worley KC. 2018. Genomes of the Hymenoptera. Current Opinion in Insect Science 25: 65-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2017.11.008

Brothers D.J. 1999. Phylogeny and evolution of wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera, Chrysidoidea, Vespoidea and Apoidea) Zoologica Scripta 28: 233–250.

Debevec AH, Cardinal S, Danforth BN. 2012. Identifying the sister group to the bees: a molecular phylogeny of Aculeata with an emphasis on the superfamily Apoidea. Zoologica scripta 41: 527-35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2012.00549.x

Eardley, C, 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.

Johnson BR, Borowiec ML, Chiu JC, Lee EK, Atallah J, Ward PS. 2013. Phylogenomics resolves evolutionary relationships among ants, bees, and wasps. Current Biology 23: 2058–2062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.08.050

Ohl, M. & Bleidorn, C. 2006. The phylogenetic position of the enigmatic wasp family Heterogynaidae based on molecular data, with description of a new, nocturnal species (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Systematic Entomology 31: 321–337. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3113.2005.00313.x

Peters RS, Krogmann L, Mayer C, Donath A, Gunkel S, Meusemann K, Kozlov A, Podsiadlowski L, Petersen M, Lanfear R, Diez PA. 2017. Evolutionary history of the Hymenoptera. Current Biology 27:1013-1018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.01.027

Pilgrim EM, von Dohlen CD, Pitts JP. 2008. Molecular phylogenetics of Vespoidea indicate paraphyly of the superfamily and novel relationships of its component families and subfamilies. Zoologica Scripta 37: 539–560. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00340.x

Sann M, Niehuis O, Peters R, Mayer C, Kozlov A, Podsiadlowski L, Bank S, Meusemann K, Misof B, Bleidorn C, Ohl M. 2018. Phylogenomic analysis of Apoidea sheds new light on the sister group of bees. BMC Evolutionary Biology 18: 71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12862-018-1155-8

Sann, M., Meusemann, K., Niehuis, O., Escalona, H.E., Mokrousov, M., Ohl, M., Paul, T. & Schmid-Egger, C. (2021) Reanalysis of the apoid wasp phylogeny with additional taxa and sequence data confirms the placement of Ammoplanidae as sister to bees. Systematic Entomology 46 (3), 558–569. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12475

Sharkey, M., 2007. Phylogeny and classification of Hymenoptera. Zootaxa 1668: 521–548.

Sharkey, M.J., Carpenter, J.M., Vilhelmsen, L., Heraty, J., Liljeblad, J., Dowling, A.P.G., Schulmeister, S., Murray, D., Deans, A.R., Ronquist, F., Krogmann, L. and Wheeler, W.C. 2012. Phylogenetic relationships among superfamilies of Hymenoptera. Cladistics 28: 80–112. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2011.00366.x

Links

CATALOG OF WORLD SPHECIDAE sensu lato (= Apoidea excluding bees) compiled by Wojciech J. Pulawski (California Academy of Sciences).

Credits

Photograph © Iziko Museums of South Africa.

Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2026. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

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