Vespidae

Family of insects

Vespidae

Temporal range: Aptian–Recent

PreꞒ

Vespula germanica
Scientific classification
Domain:  | Eukaryota
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Arthropoda
Class:  | Insecta
Order:  | Hymenoptera
Superfamily:  | Vespoidea
Family:  | Vespidae
Latreille, 1802
Subfamilies

* Eumeninae (potter wasps)
* Euparagiinae
* Gayellinae
* Masarinae (pollen wasps)
* Polistinae (paper wasp)
* Stenogastrinae (hover wasp)
* Vespinae (yellowjackets, hornets)
* Zethinae
* †Priorvespinae
* †Protovespinae

Palaeovespa florissantia, late Eocene

The Vespidae are a large (nearly 5000 species), diverse, cosmopolitan family of wasps, including nearly all the known eusocial wasps (such as Polistes fuscatus, Vespa orientalis, and Vespula germanica) and many solitary wasps.[1] Each social wasp colony includes a queen and a number of female workers with varying degrees of sterility relative to the queen. In temperate social species, colonies usually last only one year, dying at the onset of winter. New queens and males (drones) are produced towards the end of the summer, and after mating, the queens hibernate over winter in cracks or other sheltered locations. The nests of most species are constructed out of mud, but polistines and vespines use plant fibers, chewed to form a sort of paper (also true of some stenogastrines). Many species are pollen vectors contributing to the pollination of several plants, being potential or even effective pollinators,[2] while others are notable predators of pest insect species, and a few species are invasive pests.[3][4]

The subfamilies Polistinae and Vespinae are composed solely of eusocial species, while the Eumeninae, Euparagiinae, Gayellinae, Masarinae and Zethinae are all solitary with the exception of a few communal and several subsocial species. The Stenogastrinae are facultatively eusocial, considering nests may have one or several adult females; in cases where the nest is shared by multiple females (typically, a mother and her daughters) there is reproductive division of labor and cooperative brood care.[5]

In the Polistinae and Vespinae, rather than consuming prey directly, prey are premasticated and fed to the larvae, which in return, produce a clear liquid (with high amino acid content) for the adults to consume; the exact amino acid composition varies considerably among species, but it is considered to contribute substantially to adult nutrition.[6]

Fossils are known since Aptian of the Early Cretaceous, with several described species from Cretaceous amber.[7]

## Gallery

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* German wasp

* Median wasp nest

* Polistes nest

* Polistes wasp carrying a bit of wood from an old rake handle

* Vespa tropica from India

* Dolichovespula media (a European tree wasp) stripping wood from a fence for use in nest construction

## References

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1. ^ Pickett, Kurt M.; Wenzel, John W. (2004). "Phylogenetic Analysis of the New World Polistes (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Polistinae) Using Morphology and Molecules". Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 77 (4): 742–760\. doi:10.2317/E-18.1. S2CID 85737989.
2. ^ Sühs, R.B.; Somavilla, A.; Putzke, J.; Köhler, A. (2009). "Pollen vector wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) of Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (Anacardiaceae), Santa Cruz do Sul, RS, Brazil". Brazilian Journal of Biosciences. 7 (2): 138–143.
3. ^ Beggs, Jacqueline R., Eckehard G. Brockerhoff, Juan C. Corley, Marc Kenis, Maité Masciocchi, Franck Muller, Quentin Rome, and Claire Villemant. "Ecological effects and management of invasive alien Vespidae." BioControl 56 (2011): 505-526.
4. ^ Beggs, J. "The ecological consequences of social wasps (Vespula spp.) invading an ecosystem that has an abundant carbohydrate resource." Biological Conservation 99, no. 1 (2001): 17-28.
5. ^ PK Piekarski, JM Carpenter, AR Lemmon, E Moriarty-Lemmon, BJ Sharanowski. (2018) Phylogenomic Evidence Overturns Current Conceptions of Social Evolution in Wasps (Vespidae). Molecular Biology and Evolution. 35:2097-2109. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msy124
6. ^ Hunt, J.H.; Baker, I.; Baker, H.G. (1982). "Similarity of amino acids in nectar and larval saliva: the nutritional basis for trophallaxis in social wasps". Evolution. 36 (6): 1318–22\. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.1982.tb05501.x. PMID 28563573.
7. ^ Perrard, Adrien; Grimaldi, David; Carpenter, James M. (April 2017). "Early lineages of Vespidae (Hymenoptera) in Cretaceous amber: Vespidae in Cretaceous amber" (PDF). Systematic Entomology. 42 (2): 379–386\. doi:10.1111/syen.12222. S2CID 90328491.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vespidae.

* Evolutionary history of social behavior in Vespids
* Stunning photographs of Vespidae (and other insects) in flight
* Vespidae: Potter wasps; vespid wasps; social wasps; hornets; paper wasps; yellowjackets
* Identification Atlas of the Vespidae of the northeastern Nearctic region

* v
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* e

Extant Hymenopteran families

* Kingdom: Animalia
* Phylum: Arthropoda
* Class: Insecta
* Subclass: Pterygota
* Infraclass: Neoptera
* Superorder: Holometabola

| Tenthredinoidea|

* Argidae (argid sawflies)
* Blasticotomidae (fern sawflies)
* Cimbicidae (cimbicid sawflies)
* Diprionidae (conifer sawflies)
* Pergidae (pergid sawflies)
* Tenthredinidae (common sawflies)

|

Xyeloidea|

Xyelidae

Pamphilioidea|

* Megalodontesidae
* Pamphiliidae (web-spinning sawflies)

Siricoidea|

* Anaxyelidae (cedar wood wasps)
* Siricidae (horntails)

Xiphydrioidea|

* Xiphydriidae (wood wasps)

Cephoidea|

* Cephidae (stem sawflies)

Orussoidea|

* Orussidae (parasitic wood wasps)

| P

| Ichneumonoidea|

* Braconidae (braconids)
* Ichneumonidae (ichneumon wasps)

|

Ceraphronoidea|

* Ceraphronidae
* Megaspilidae

Proctotrupomorpha|

| Platygastroidea|

* Geoscelionidae
* Janzenellidae
* Neuroscelionidae
* Nixoniidae
* Platygastridae
* Scelionidae
* Sparasionidae

|

Cynipoidea|

* Austrocynipidae
* Cynipidae (gall wasps)
* Diplolepididae
* Figitidae
* Ibaliidae
* Liopteridae

Proctotrupoidea (s.str.)|

* Proctorenyxidae
* Roproniidae
* Heloridae
* Pelecinidae
* Peradeniidae
* Proctotrupidae
* Vanhorniidae

Diaprioidea|

* Austroniidae
* Diapriidae
* Ismaridae
* Maamingidae
* Monomachidae

Mymarommatoidea|

* Mymarommatidae

Chalcidoidea
(chalcid wasps)|

* Agaonidae (fig wasps)
* Aphelinidae
* Azotidae
* Baeomorphidae
* Boucekiidae
* Calesidae
* Ceidae
* Cerocephalidae
* Chalcedectidae
* Chalcididae
* Chrysolampidae
* Cleonymidae
* Coelocybidae
* Cynipencyrtidae
* Diparidae
* Encyrtidae
* Epichrysomallidae
* Eucharitidae
* Eulophidae
* Eunotidae
* Eupelmidae
* Eurytomidae
* Eutrichosomatidae
* Herbertiidae
* Hetreulophidae
* Heydeniidae
* Idioporidae
* Leucospidae
* Lyciscidae
* Macromesidae
* Megastigmidae
* Melanosomellidae
* Metapelmatidae
* Moranilidae
* Mymaridae (fairyflies)
* Neanastatidae
* Neodiparidae
* Ooderidae
* Ormyridae
* Pelecinellidae
* Perilampidae
* Pirenidae
* Pteromalidae
* Signiphoridae
* Spalangiidae
* Systasidae
* Tanaostigmatidae
* Tetracampidae
* Torymidae
* Trichogrammatidae

Evanioidea|

* Aulacidae
* Evaniidae (ensign wasps)
* Gasteruptiidae

Stephanoidea|

* Stephanidae

Megalyroidea|

* Megalyridae

Trigonaloidea|

* Trigonalidae

| Chrysidoidea|

* Bethylidae
* Chrysididae (cuckoo wasps)
* Dryinidae
* Embolemidae
* Plumariidae
* Sclerogibbidae
* Scolebythidae

|

Vespoidea|

* Rhopalosomatidae (rhopalosomatid wasps)
* Vespidae (paper wasps, potter wasps, pollen wasps, yellowjackets, hornets)

Tiphioidea|

* Bradynobaenidae
* Tiphiidae (tiphiid wasps)

Thynnoidea|

* Chyphotidae
* Thynnidae (flower wasps)
* Sierolomorphidae (sierolomorphid wasps)

Pompiloidea|

* Mutillidae (velvet ants)
* Myrmosidae
* Pompilidae (spider wasps)
* Sapygidae (sapygid, or club-horned wasps)

Scolioidea|

* Scoliidae (scoliid wasps)

Formicoidea|

* Formicidae (ants)

Apoidea|

| Spheciformes
(sphecoid wasps)|

* Ammoplanidae
* Ampulicidae (cockroach wasps)
* Astatidae
* Bembicidae
* Crabronidae
* Mellinidae
* Pemphredonidae
* Philanthidae
* Psenidae
* Sphecidae (thread-waisted wasps)

|

Anthophila
(bees)|

* Andrenidae (mason bees)
* Apidae (honey bees, bumblebees, cuckoo bees, carpenter bees, orchid bees, stingless bees)
* Colletidae (plasterer bees)
* Halictidae (sweat bees)
* Megachilidae (mason bees, leafcutter bees)
* Melittidae
* Stenotritidae

|

* See also: Unicalcarida

* v
* t
* e

Eusociality

Topics|

* Evolution of eusociality
* Presociality
* Social insects
* Agriculture
* Gamergate
* Group selection
* Haplodiploidy
* Identity in social insects
* Kin recognition
* Kin selection
* Polyethism
* Sexual selection in insects
* Social conflict
* Thelytoky
* War
* Worker policing

Groups|

* Hymenoptera
* Ant
* Apidae
* Crabronidae
* Halictidae
* Honey bee
* Vespidae
* Mammalia
* Blesmol
* Dwarf mongoose
* Meerkat
* Crustacean
* Synalpheus
* Thysanoptera
* Kladothrips
* Hemiptera
* Aphididae
* Coleoptera
* Austroplatypus incompertus
* Isoptera

In culture|

* Bees in mythology
* Coalescent

Pioneers, works|

* Karl von Frisch
* The Dancing Bees 1927
* Charles Duncan Michener
* The Bees of the World 2000
* Bert Hölldobler
* E. O. Wilson
* Sociobiology: The New Synthesis 1975
* The Ants 1990
* Journey to the Ants 1994

Taxon identifiers

Vespidae|

* Wikidata: Q7037230
* Wikispecies: Vespidae
* ADW: Vespidae
* AFD: Vespidae
* BOLD: 449
* BugGuide: 198
* CoL: HTJ
* EoL: 5242
* EPPO: 1VESPF
* Fauna Europaea: 11363
* Fauna Europaea (new): 19f8665e-d1d7-46ec-bb50-5ef950526338
* GBIF: 4490
* iNaturalist: 52747
* IRMNG: 103942
* ITIS: 154249
* NBN: NBNSYS0000050803
* NCBI: 7438
* NZOR: b56afff1-c860-44bf-bf66-2b7a557b5521
* Open Tree of Life: 130014
* Paleobiology Database: 72081
* Plazi: 873687E8-FFD0-823E-26D3-7648FA3FFE84

Authority control databases: National |

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Czech Republic
* Israel

|

*[†]: Extinct
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