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Potter wasps
Eumenes coarctatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Suborder: Apocrita Superfamily: Vespoidea Family: Vespidae Subfamily: Eumeninae
Genera
More than 200 (see article)

Potter wasps (or mason wasps) are a cosmopolitan wasp group presently treated as a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae.

Recognition

Partial dorsal view of the thorax of Cephalastor estela showing the position of tegulae and parategulae relative to the mesoscutum and pronotum

Most eumenine species are black or brown, and commonly marked with strikingly contrasting patterns of yellow, white, orange, or red (or combinations thereof), but some species, mostly from tropical regions, show faint to strong blue or green metallic highlights in the background colors. Like most vespids, their wings are folded longitudinally at rest. They are particularly recognized by the following combination of characteristics:

1) Mesoscutum with a posterolateral projection known as parategula; 2) Tarsal claws cleft; 3) Hind coxae with a longitudinal dorsal carina or folding, often developed into a lobe or tooth; 4) Fore wing with 3 submarginal cells.

Biology

A potter wasp nest on a brick wall in coastal South Carolina.

Eumenine wasps are diverse in nest building. The different species may either use pre-existing cavities (such as beetle tunnels in wood, abandoned nests of other hymenoptera or even man-made holes like old nail holes and even screw shafts on electronic devices) that they modify in several degrees, or they construct their own either underground or exposed nests. The nest may have one to multiple individual brood cells. The most widely-used building material is mud made of a mixture of earth and regurgitated water, but many species use chewed plant material instead.

The name "potter wasp" derives from the shape of the mud nests built by species of Eumenes and similar genera. It is believed that Native Americans based their pottery designs upon the form of local potter wasp nests. [von Frisch, 1974].

All known eumenine species are predators, most of them solitary mass provisioners, though some isolated species show primitive states of social behaviour and progressive provisioning.

Potter wasp building nest.

When a cell is completed, the adult wasp typically collects beetle larvae, spiders or caterpillars and, paralyzing them, places them in the cell to serve as food for a single wasp larva. As a normal rule, the adult wasp lays a single egg in the empty cell before provisioning it. Some species lay the egg in the opening of the cell, suspended from a thread of dried fluid. When the wasp larva hatches, it drops and start to feed upon the supplied prey for a period of time that normally last some few weeks before pupating. The complete life cycle may last from a few weeks to more than a year from the egg until the adult emerges. Adult potter wasps feed on floral nectar.

Taxonomy

They are the most diverse subfamily of vespids, with more than 200 genera, and contain the vast majority of species in the family. The overwhelming morphological diversity of the potter wasp species is reflected in the proliferation of genera described to group them in more manageable groups. You can see here the list of potter wasp genera.

References

• Carpenter, J. M. 1986. A synonymic generic checklist of the Eumeninae (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Psyche. 93 : 61-90.
• Carpenter, J.M. & B.R. Garcete-Barrett. 2003. A key to the neotropical genera of Eumeninae (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Boletín del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural del Paraguay 14 : 52-73.
• Giordani Soika, 1989. Terzo contributo alla conoscenza degli eumenidi afrotropicali (Hymenoptera). Societa Veneziana di Scienze Naturali Lavori 14(1) 1989:19-68.
• Giordani Soika, A. 1992. Di alcuni eumenidi nuovi o poco noti (Hymenoptera Vespoidea). Societá Veneziana di Scienze Naturali Lavori 17 1992:41-68.
• Giordani Soika, A. 1993. Di alcuni nuovi eumenidi della regione orientale (Hym. Vespoidea). Bollettino del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Venezia 42, 30 giugno 1991(1993):151-163.
• Gusenleitner. 1992. Zwei neue Eumeniden-Gattungen und -Arten aus Madagaskar (Vespoidea, Hymenoptera). Linzer Biologische Beitraege 24(1) 1992:91-96.
• CSIRO Entomology Division. 1991.The Insects of Australia: a textbook for Students and Research. 2nd Edition. Melbourne University Press and Cornell University Press. 1137 pp.

External links

• http://www.organismnames.com/
• Eumenes spp., potter wasps of Florida on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site

Ancistrocerus sp.

Eumenes sp. and mosquitoes nectaring on Solidago

Eumenes pomiformis

Euodynerus sp.

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 27 October 2008, at 19:15.

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