The subfamily Pemphredoninae also known as the aphid wasps, is a large group in the

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

family

Crabronidae The Crabronidae are a large paraphyletic group (nominally a family) of wasps, including nearly all of the species formerly comprising the now-defunct superfamily Sphecoidea. It collectively includes well over 200 genera, containing well over 9 ...

, with over 1000 species. Historically, this subfamily has frequently been accorded family status. In some recent phylogenetic analyses, one of the subtribes within this group is the sister lineage to the superfamily

Apoidea The superfamily (zoology), superfamily Apoidea is a major group within the Hymenoptera, which includes two traditionally recognized lineages, the "sphecidae, sphecoid" wasps, and the bees. Molecular phylogeny demonstrates that the bees arose from ...

, and accorded family rank as Ammoplanidae along with Pemphredonidae and Psenidae so as to keep families monophyletic.Manuela Sann, Oliver Niehuis, Ralph S. Peters, Christoph Mayer, Alexey Kozlov, Lars Podsiadlowski, Sarah Bank, Karen Meusemann, Bernhard Misof, Christoph Bleidorn, and Michael Ohl (2018) Phylogenomic analysis of Apoidea sheds new light on the sister group of bees. ''BMC Evolutionary Biology'' 18:71. doi:10.1186/s12862-018-1155-8 The subfamily consists of solitary wasps, each genus having its own distinct and consistent prey preferences. The adult females dig tunnels in the ground, or plant material, for nesting. As with all other sphecoid wasps, the larvae are carnivorous; females hunt for prey on which to lay their eggs,

mass provisioning Mass provisioning is a form of parental investment in which an adult insect, most commonly a hymenopteran such as a bee or wasp, stocks all the food for each of her offspring in a small chamber (a "cell") before she lays the egg. This behavior i ...

the nest cells with paralyzed, living prey that the larvae feed upon after hatching from the egg.

Subdivisions

In most classifications, the Pemphredoninae are divided into four

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

: Entomosericini, Odontosphecini, Psenini, and Pemphredonini; the last of which has by far the largest number of species. The primary distinction between the Psenini and the Pemphredonini is that Psenini have a forewing with three submarginal cells, while Pemphredonini never have more than two submarginal cells in their forewing. More recent classifications treat Psenidae (including Odontosphecini) as a separate family, and sister to the newly-erected family Ammoplanidae, while Pemphredonidae (excluding Ammoplanina) is sister taxon to the Philanthidae.

Fossils

Two fossilized wasps from the

Weald Clay Weald Clay or the Weald Clay Formation is a Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rock unit underlying areas of South East England, between the North and South Downs, in an area called the Weald Basin. It is the uppermost unit of the Wealden Group of ro ...

, '' Archisphex'' and '' Angarosphex'' are considered to possibly be in the Pemphredoninae.Jarzembowski, E. A. (1991) "The Weald Clay of the Weald: Report of 1988/89 Field Meetings: New insects from the Weald Clay of the Weald" Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 102: pp. 83-108; as cited ''in'' Grimaldi, David (1999) "The co-radiations of pollinating insects and angiosperms in the Cretaceous" ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'' 86(2): pp. 373-406
p. 377
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Notes

References

* Bohart, R. M. and Menke, A. S. (1976) ''Sphecid Wasps of the World: a Generic Revision '' University of California Press, Berkeley, California,
Google books
* Simon-Thomas, R. T. and Bohart, R. M. (1998) ''A recapitulation of errata and omissions to Sphecid wasps of the world, a generic revision, by R.M. Bohart & A.S. Menke'' Instituut voor Systematiek en Populatiebiologie, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam,

External links

"Pemphredoninae Dahlbom, 1835" '' ITIS Report''
* Photograph
"Subfamily Pemphredoninae - Aphid Wasps" ''Bug Guide''
* Photograph
"Pemphredoninae" ''Flickr''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q146703 Crabronidae Apocrita subfamilies