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- This page contains pictures and information about Mud-Daubers and Sand Wasps
that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
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- Species in these two families, Sphecidae and Crabronidae, are solitary hunting wasps. Female wasp makes nest in soil or
build mud cells for her young. She paralyses host arthropod, usually other
insects or spiders, by her sting. The sting is a modified ovipositor
which injects venom paralyses but not kill the host. She keep the hosts in the
nest and lay egg on hosts body. Larva hatches and feeds externally on prey.
Larvae are legless and grub-like. See our Panda Sand
Wasp page in which we had the detail information.
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- Wasps in these two families are from small to large in size and some species have long slender waist. Adult wasps feed on
nectar or honeydew. All wasps in this family will sting, although most
Australian species are not aggressive. They
usually found hunting on ground or on leaves, or sometimes found dragging prey
to their nest. Nests are different for different species. Some nests are made by
burrowing in the ground, by using existing cavities in ground, in dead wood
or in pith of plants. Some species construct mud cells in open, on
house walls or rocks or tree trunks, some use abandoned mud nests.
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- The
classifications of Sphecidae and Crabronidae are very confusing. As now most recognised,
the former Sphecidae is
divided into two families, Sphecidae and
Crabronidae. The redefined Sphecidae
family constitutes only the subfamily Sphecinae. The Crabronidae constitutes
the rest of the former Sphecidae subfamilies.
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- The Sphecidae and Crabronidae are the only two families in superfamily Sphecoidea.
The Sphecoidea and Apoidea are closely related and some
authors combine them in a single superfamily. Sphecoidea
species differ from
Apoidea in lacking branched hairs and broad, flattened hind legs.
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- We found quite a number of wasps in Sphecidae and Crabronidae and listed in the following
pages;
- Wasps in this subfamily are medium to large size, with the distinctive
long and narrow petiole between the mesosoma and metasoma, i.e., the narrow
waist.
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- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 989.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus
& Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p297.
- 3. Family SPHECIDAE Mud-daubers, Sand
Wasps - Australian Faunal Directory, Australian Biological Resources
Study, 2009.
- 4. What wasp is that? - An interactive identification guide to the Australasian families of Hymenoptera, 2007.
- 5. Sphecidae - Insects of Townsville, Australia - Graeme Cocks.
- 6. Wasps - family Sphecidae - lifeunseen.com, by Nick Monaghan.
- 7. The sand wasps: natural history and behavior
- Howard Ensign Evans, Kevin M. O'Neill, 2007.
- 8. Northern Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
- 9. Sphecidae - Australian National Insect Collection Database, CSIRO.
- 10. Family SPHECIDAE (Digger Wasps)
- Insects of Cedar Creek, Ecosystem Science Reserve, 2000.
- 11. Sphecidae {family} - Barcode of Life Database.
[ Up ] [ FAMILY POMPILIDAE ] [ Family Mutillidae ] [ FAMILY TIPHIIDAE ] [ FAMILY SCOLIIDAE ] [ FAMILY VESPIDAE ] [ FAMILY SPHECIDAE/CRABRONIDAE ] [ Nesting Behaviour of Predatory Wasps ] [ Other Predatory Wasps ]
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