Vespoidea

Vespoidea
Dolichovespula maculata, Bald faced hornet
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Suborder: Apocrita
Superfamily: Vespoidea
Families

See text

Vespoidea is a superfamily of order Hymenoptera of class Insecta, although older taxonomic schemes may vary in this categorization, particularly in their recognition of a now-obsolete superfamily Scolioidea. The members of this group are wasps and ants.

Vespoid Families

 
Vespoidea


Tiphiidae



Sapygidae


Mutillidae






Pompilidae


Rhopalosomatidae




Formicidae



Vespidae


Scoliidae





Phylogenetic relationships of Vespoid families based on Brothers (1999)[1]

Newer research based on four nuclear genes (elongation factor-1α F2 copy, long-wavelength rhodopsin, wingless and the D2–D3 regions of 28S ribosomal RNA (2700 bp in total)) suggest that the higher level relationships need to be changed with Rhopalosomatidae as a sister group of the Vespidae and the clade Rhopalosomatidae + Vespidae as sister to all other vespoids/apoids. Additionally, superfamily Apoidea is found to be within the Vespoidea, suggesting the dismantling of the superfamily into many smaller superfamilies. Families Mutillidae, Tiphiidae, and Bradynobaenidae are also noted to be paraphyletic.[2]

References

  1. ^ Brothers, D. J. 1999. Phylogeny and evolution of wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera, Chrysisoidea, Vespoidea, and Apoidea). Zoologica Scripta 28: 233-249.
  2. ^ Pilgrim, E., von Dohlen, C., & Pitts, J. (2008). "Molecular phylogenetics of Vespoidea indicate paraphyly of the superfamily and novel relationships of its component families and subfamilies". Zoologica Scripta 37 (5): 539–560. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00340.x. 

External links