Vespoidea: Definition from Answers.com

Vespoidea

Dolichovespula maculata, Bald faced hornet

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]

Bradynobaenidae
Formicidae - Ants
Mutillidae - Velvet Ants
Pompilidae - Spider Wasps
Rhopalosomatidae - Rhopalosomatid Wasps
Sapygidae - Sapygid Wasps
Scoliidae - Scoliid Wasps
Sierolomorphidae - Sierolomorphid Wasps
Tiphiidae - Tiphiid wasps
Vespidae - Paper Wasps, Hornets, Potter Wasps, Yellow Jackets, and relatives

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. Several other groups are also noted to be paraphyletic.^[2]

References

^ Brothers, D. J. 1999. Phylogeny and evolution of wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera, Chrysisoidea, Vespoidea, and Apoidea). Zoologica Scripta 28: 233-249.
^ 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

Image Gallery from Gembloux

This Hymenoptera-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Donate to Wikimedia

		Sci-Tech Dictionary. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. Copyright © 2003, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1978, 1976, 1974 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Vespoidea". Read more

	Vespidae (invertebrate zoology)
	wasp
	Hymenoptera (arthropoda)