- This page contains pictures and information about Sand-daubers and Sand Wasps
in Family Crabronidae that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
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- Species in 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 Crabronidae 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.
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- Sphecidae and Crabronidae
are very close related families. 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.
Crabronids can be recognised by the lack of a petiole between the mesosoma and metasoma or, if a petiole is present, then it is short or composed of tergal and sternal components and the basal jugal lobe of the hind wing is small.
- We found quite a number of wasps in Crabronidae and listed in the following
pages;
- Subfamily Crabroninae - Sand-loving Wasps and Sand-dauber Wasps
- Wasps in this subfamily are medium to large in size, with long body and
usually black (and orange), more elongate than Bembicinae.
They have spiny-legged and frequently with deformed ocelli. They generally provision with
Orthoptera. Some species
provision with spiders.
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- Subfamily Bembicinae (previously Nyssoninae)
- Sand Wasps
- Sand Wasps in this subfamily are medium to large in size, with stout body and
at least with one colour of orange, yellow or brown. Sand wasps are solitary hunting
wasps. They are ground
nesters. Females dig long barrow in sandy ground as nest for the young. They provision their nest with different insect
prey, mostly flies. Males dig
shorter burrow as sleeping chamber. Sand Wasp adults feed on nectar on
flowers.
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- Subfamily Philanthinae - Social Digger Wasps
- Digger Wasps in subfamily Philanthinae are
medium in size. They are black with orange-yellow bandings. There is the petiole segment between the
thorax and abdomen.
The abdomen is constricted between segments. The head is relatively large and wide. The
hind legs, or femur, are expanded and flattened. Those Digger wasps nest in bare, firm ground. They nest communally and there is
some division of labour. All Australian wasps in this subfamily Philanthinae are in Cerceris
genus, tribe Cercerini.
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Unknown Sphecid Wasps
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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.
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