Sphecius
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Cicada killer wasps (the genus Sphecius) are large, solitary predatory wasps. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them, after stinging and paralyzing them. There are 21 species worldwide, though by far the best-known is the North American species Sphecius speciosus, the Eastern Cicada Killer. Many other cicada killer wasp species are found in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. There are also a few other related genera sometimes referred to as "cicada killers", e.g. Liogorytes in South America and Exeirus in Australia.
The use of cicadas as prey is in keeping with the typical behavior of the tribe Gorytini, which tend to specialize on various members of the Cicadomorpha as prey items.
[edit] Species
This list of species is probably complete (as of December, 2006). It has been adapted from the Catalog of Sphecius species (California Academy of Sciences).
- Sphecius antennatus (Klug, 1845) (Southern and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Central Asia)
- Sphecius citrinus Arnold, 1929 (South Africa)
- Sphecius claripennis Morice, 1911 (North Africa)
- Sphecius conicus (Germar, 1817) (Balkans, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Greece)
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- Sphecius conicus creticus de Beaumont, 1965 (Crete)
- Sphecius conicus syriacus (Klug, 1845) (Syria to China)
- Sphecius convallis Patton, 1879 (California, Mexico)
- Sphecius grandidieri (de Saussure, 1887) (Madagascar)
- Sphecius grandis (Say, 1823) (Nevada, Arkansas, Colorado, Mexico)
- Sphecius hemixanthopterus Morice, 1911 (Algeria)
- Sphecius hogardii (Latreille, 1806) (West Indies, Florida)
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- Sphecius hogardii bahamas Krombein, 1953 (Bahama Islands: Bimini)
- Sphecius intermedius Handlirsch, 1895 (Algeria)
- Sphecius lutescens (Radoszkowski, 1877) (Central Asia)
- Sphecius malayanus Handlirsch, 1895 (Indonesia: Timor, Sumbava)
- Sphecius milleri R. Turner, 1915 (Zambia)
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- Sphecius milleri aurantiacus Arnold, 1940 (Ethiopia)
- Sphecius nigricornis (Dufour, 1838) (Southern and Eastern Europe, North Africa)
- Sphecius pectoralis (F. Smith, 1856) (Australia)
- Sphecius persa Gussakovskij, 1933 (Iran, Afghanistan)
- Sphecius quartinae (Gribodo, 1884) (Guinea, Somalia)
- Sphecius schulthessi Roth, 1951 (North Africa)
- Sphecius speciosus (Drury, 1773) (Central and North America: Honduras to Canada)
- Sphecius spectabilis (Taschenberg, 1875) (Brazil, Argentina)
- Sphecius uljanini (Radoszkowski, 1877) (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran)
