Bembicidae

Olgia helena, copyright Centre for Biodiversity Genomics.

Belongs within: Apoidea.
Contains: Clitemnestra, Ochleroptera, Argogorytes, Alyssontini, Nyssonini, Heliocausina, Ammatomus, Stizini, Bembicina, Sphecius, Gorytina.

The Bembicidae are a diverse group of apoid wasps whose members commonly possess an oblique carina near the rear corners of the scutum and/or two spurs on the mid tibiae (Bohart & Menke 1976).

Characters (from Bohart & Menke 1976, as Nyssoninae excluding Mellinus): Eyes with inner margins essentially parallel or converging below, if converging above then at least hindocelli somewhat distorted and scar-like. Mandible not notched nor toothed externoventrally, inner subteeth, when present, associated with apical tooth; mandible socket open; palpal formub usually 6-4. Scutum without complete notauli; an oblique scutal carina often present. Episternal sulcus present or absent, sometimes forming a continuous arc with scrobal sulcus (episternal-scrobal sulcus); omaulus usually present. Midtibia with two apical spurs (sometimes one or none), claws simple, midcoxae usually essentially contiguous, plantulae present or absent. Propodeal sternite absent. Forewing with two or three submarginal cells of which II usually receives at least one recurrent vein, three discoidal cells present. Hindwing media diverging before, at or beyond cu-a; jugal lobe usually small, rarely absent, at most half as long as anal area. Gaster usually sessile but peduncle, when present, made up of both tergum and sternum; male gaster with six or seven exposed terga; sternum VIII often modified and largely or entirely concealed; male genitalia usually with volsella differentiated into cuspis and digitus.

Bembicidae [Bembiciles, Bembicinae, Gorytini, Spheciina] BM76
    |--+--Clitemnestra BM76
    |  |--Ochleroptera BM76
    |  `--Olgia Radoszkowski 1877 [incl. Kaufmannia Radoszkowski 1877] BM76
    |       |--*O. modesta Radoszkowski 1877 BM76
    |       |--O. bensoni (Beaumont 1950) [=Gorytes bensoni] BM76
    |       |--O. helena Beaumont 1953 BM76
    |       |--O. maracandica (Radoszkowski 1877) [=*Kaufmannia maracandica] BM76
    |       `--O. spinulosa Beaumont 1953 BM76
    `--+--+--Argogorytes BM76
       |  `--Neogorytes Bohart in Bohart & Menke 1976 BM76
       |       `--*N. ecuadorae Bohart in Bohart & Menke 1976 BM76
       `--+--Exeirus Shuckard 1838 [=Exirus Schulz 1906] BM76
          |    `--*E. lateritius Shuckard 1838 C85 [incl. Sphecius lanio Stal 1857 C85, E. lanio BM76]
          `--+--+--Alyssontini PK17
             |  `--Nyssonini PK17
             `--+--Heliocausina SN18
                `--Bembicini SN18
                     |--+--Ammatomus SN18
                     |  `--Tanyoprymnus Cameron 1905 SN18, BM76 [incl. Ceratostizus Rohwer 1921 BM76]
                     |       `--T. moneduloides (Packard 1867) (see below for synonymy) BM76
                     `--+--+--Stizini SN18
                        |  `--Bembicina BM76
                        `--+--Sphecius SN18
                           `--Gorytina SN18

Bembicidae incertae sedis:
  Handlirschia Kohl 1896 BM76
    |--*H. aethiops (Handlirsch 1889) [=Sphecius aethiops] BM76
    `--H. tricolor Gess 1973 BM76
  Pterygorytes Bohart 1967 BM76
    |--*P. valens (Fox 1897) [=Gorytes valens] BM76
    `--P. triangularis (Smith 1873) [=Gorytes triangularis] BM76
  Kohlia Handlirsch 1895 [incl. Stizobembex Gussakovskij 1952] BM76
    |--*K. cephalotes Handlirsch 1895 BM76
    |--K. coxalis Morice 1897 BM76
    `--K. pavlovskii (Gussakovskij 1952) [=*Stizobembix pavlovskii] BM76

Tanyoprymnus moneduloides (Packard 1867) [=Gorytes moneduloides, *Ceratostizus moneduloides; incl. G. belfragei Cresson 1872, *Tanyoprymnus longitarsis Cameron 1905] BM76

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BM76] Bohart, R. M., & A. S. Menke. 1976. Sphecid Wasps of the World. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[C85] Cardale, J. C. 1985. Vespoidea and Sphecoidea. In: Walton, D. W. (ed.) Zoological Catalogue of Australia vol. 2. Hymenoptera: Formicoidea, Vespoidea and Sphecoidea pp. 150–303. Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra.

[PK17] Peters, R. S., L. Krogmann, C. Mayer, A. Donath, S. Gunkel, K. Meusemann, A. Kozlov, L. Podsiadlowski, M. Petersen, R. Lanfear, P. A. Diez, J. Heraty, K. M. Kjer, S. Klopfstein, R. Meier, C. Polidori, T. Schmitt, S. Liu, X. Zhou, T. Wappler, J. Rust, B. Misof & O. Niehuis. 2017. Evolutionary history of the Hymenoptera. Current Biology 27 (7): 1013–1018.

[SN18] Sann, M., O. Niehuis, R. S. Peters, C. Mayer, A. Kozlov, L. Podsiadlowski, S. Bank, K. Meusemann, B. Misof, C. Bleidorn & M. Ohl. 2018. Phylogenomic analysis of Apoidea sheds new light on the sister group of bees. BMC Evolutionary Biology 18: 71.