Crabronidae
Sand nodes wasp ( Cerceris arenaria )
Crabronidae is a family of grave wasps ( Spheciformes ). It comprises 200 genera in eight subfamilies with more than 8720 species. It has offices in Europe, with 816 species and subspecies. The family was originally attributed to the Sphecidae in the form of some subfamilies and raised in the family rank based on morphological studies. A recent molecular genetic testing sets, however, very close to that Crabronidae are not monophyletic. A final clarification of this issue is still pending.
Way of life
The females feed their larvae with prey animals that are carried into the nest. Depending on the nature of different animals, such as aphids, bees, beetles, bugs, butterflies, cicadas, cockroaches, long and short- horned crickets, flies, praying mantises and spiders are hunted. A few species live as Kleptoparasiten and feed their brood with the spoils of other wasps. In some sub-families, especially the Pemphredoninae and Philanthinae the nests are sometimes also applied jointly.
System
In the following, all currently recognized subfamilies are listed:
- Astatinae Lepeletier, 1845
- Bembicinae Latreille, 1802
- Crabroninae Latreille, 1802
- Dinetinae W. Fox, 1895
- Eremiaspheciinae Menke, 1967
- Mellininae Latreille, 1802
- Pemphredoninae Dahlbom, 1835
- Philanthinae Latreille, 1802