Crabronid Hub
Over the past couple of years, I’ve been progressively building my knowledge of Australian Crabronidae … genus by genus. It’s an ongoing project and every time I tackle the identification of a new taxon I learn more about the group overall. This seems a good time to gather all the bits and pieces, and not simply as an aid to navigating the various workbook pages and related blog posts. I also need a single repository for the general resources that apply to the family as a whole.
Hence the ‘hub’.
Like all our workbook pages, these notes are a work in progress. Although developed simply for my own use, and no doubt imperfect, I’m happy to share these resources with anyone similarly absorbed by this charismatic group of wasps.
Sphecid Wasps of the World – a must have publication
Much of what I need to know to discriminate between Australia’s 46 genera is available in a single publication … thanks to the mammoth efforts of Bohart & Menke (1976)! This remarkable treatise – all 695 pages of it – is among the references I most value. Lately I’ve been using the introductory chapters to untangle the complexities of thoracic morphology and the plethora of different terms employed by different authors.
see Wikispecies page for access
Taxonomies change over time
It is not uncommon for taxa to be elevated or demoted, depending upon our collective knowledge and the preferences of particular authors. One side-effect of this is the challenge it poses the reader when dipping in and out of references that employ different systems. For example, the Crabroninae of today encompass both the Crabroninae and Larrinae of Bohart & Menke (1976). The following table helps me keep track.
1: Morphology & terminology
2. Identification summary tables (matrices, ‘cheat sheets’)
As far as possible, I have concentrated on morphological characters that one might hope to see in a field photo.
Each of the tables below opens as a downloadable pdf.
This cheat sheet for Australian spheciformes is my primary reference tool for crabronids. It presents a simplified guide to subfamilies, tribes and other generic groupings.
Note: the blog post ‘Sand wasp puzzles: Part 1’) includes labelled images of field photos illustrating many of the characters referred to in the spheciformes table.
Australian spheciformes - summary table
The following tables drill down further into various crabronid groups. I intend to add to these over time. Note that they specifically cover Australian taxa.
3. Workbook notes
Links to crabronid workbook pages. These are typically a record of the steps and evidence behind an identification we have made. Such workbook pages include images of collected specimens, with reference to keys and species descriptions (e.g. Cerceris antipodes). More recently I’ve been taking a closer look by tribe, species group or genus and will continue to add to these as I work through the family.
4. Biology, ecology, and discovery blog posts
Links to crabronid-related blog posts from the main part of our website. Most describe our observations of nesting behaviour, with interpretation based on the literature.
References
Bohart, R.M. & Menke, A.S. 1976. Sphecid Wasps of the World: A generic revision. University of California Press, Berkeley.