Eumeninae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Hymenopterida
Ordo: Hymenoptera
Subordo: Apocrita
Superfamilia: Vespoidea

Familia: Vespidae
Subfamilia: Eumeninae
Tribus: Eumenini – Odynerini – Zethini
Overview of genera

Genera (241):

A

Abispa – Acanthodynerus – Acarepipona – Acarodynerus – Acarozumia – Afrepipona – Afreumenes – Afrodynerus – Afrogamma – Alastor – Alfieria – Allepipona – Allodynerus – Allorhynchium – Alphamenes – Ancistroceroides – Ancistrocerus – Antamenes – Antepipona – Anterhynchium – Antezumia – Antodynerus – Apodynerus – Araucodynerus – Archancistrocerus – Argentozethus – Aruodynerus – Asiodynerus – Astalor – Australodynerus – Australozethus –
B

Brachymenes – Brachyodynerus – Brachypipona –
C

Calligaster – Carinstrocerus – Catilostenus – Cephalastor – Cephalochilus – Cephalodynerus – Chelodynerus – Chlorodynerus – Chlunodynerus – Clorodynerus – Coeleumenes – Coelodynerus – Convextrocerus – Covextrocerus – Crassodynerus – Crastinocerus – Crestocranius – Ctenochilus – Cuyodynerus – Cyphodynerus – Cyphomenes – Cyrtalastor – Cyrteumenes – Cyrtolabulus –
D

Delta – Deuterodiscoelius – Diemodynerus – Discoelius – Dolichodynerus –
E

Ectopioglossa – Elimus – Elisella – Emeryrhynchium – Epsilon – Erodynerus – Estiella – Eudiscoelius – Eumenemorphus – Eumenes – Eumenestiferus – Eumenidiopsis – Eumicrodynerus – Euodynerus – Eustenancistrocerus –
F

Flammodynerus – Flavoleptus –
G

Gamma – Gastrodynerus – Gibberrhynchium – Gibbodynerus – Gioiella – Giordania – Globepipona – Globodynerus – Gribodia – Gymnomerus –
H

Hemipterochilis – Hemipterochilus – Hirtocoelius – Hoplomerus – Hypalastoroides – Hypancistrocerus – Hypodynerus –
I

Incodynerus – Intereuodynerus – Interzumia – Irianmenes – Ischnocoelia – Ischnogasteroides –
J

Jucancistrocerus –
K

Katamenes – Knemodynerus –
L

Labochilus – Labus – Laevimenes – Lamellodynerus – Latimenes – Latrodynerus – Leionotus – Leptocheilus – Leptochiloides – Leptochilus (Saussure) – Leptodynerus – Leptomenes – Leptomenoides – Leptomicrodynerus – Leptopterocheilus – Leucodynerus – Lissepipona – Lissodynerus –
M

Macrocalymma – Malagassodynerus – Malayepipona – Malgachemenes – Maricopodynerus – Mecodynerus – Megacanthopus – Micreumenes – Microdynerus – Minixi – Mitrodynerus – Monobia – Monodynerus – Montezumia –
N

Nannodynerus – Nesodynerus – Nestocoelius – Nirtenia – Nortonia – Nortozumia –
O

Odontodynerus – Odynerus – Okinawepipona – Omicrabulus – Omicroides – Omicron – Onychopterocheilus – Orancistrocerus – Oreumenes – Oreumenoides – Orientalicesa – Ovodynerus –
P

Pachodynerus – Pachycoelius – Pachymenes – Pachyminixi – Pachyodynerus – Paragymnomerus – Paralastor – Paraleptomenes – Paralionotulus – Paramischocyttarus – Parancistrocerus – Paranortonia – Pararaphidoglossa – Pararrhynchium – Paravespa – Parazumia – Pareumenes – Parifodynerus – Parodontodynerus – Parodynerus – Philippodynerus – Phimenes – Pirhosigma – Plagiolabra – Plocancistrocerus – Polistepipona – Postepipona – Proepipona – Protodiscoelius – Pseudabispa – Pseudacaromenes – Pseudagris – Pseudalastor – Pseudepipona – Pseudochilus – Pseudodontodynerus – Pseudodynerus – Pseudoleptochilus – Pseudomicrodymerus – Pseudomicrodynerus – Pseudonortonia – Pseudopterocheilus – Pseudosymmorphus – Pseudozethus – Pseudozumia – Pseumenes – Psiliglossa – Pterocheilus – Pteromenes –
R

Raphiglossa – Raphiglossoides – Rhaphiglossa – Rhynchalastor – Rhynchium – Rugomenes –
S

Santamenes – Smeringodynerus – Sphaeromenes – Spinilabochilus – Stellepipona – Stenancistrocerus – Stenochilus – Stenodyneriellus – Stenodyneroides – Stenodynerus – Stenonartonia – Stenosigma – Stroudia – Subancistrocerus – Symmorphus – Synagris – Syneuodynerus –
T

Tachyancistrocerus – Tachymenes – Trachyodynerus – Tricarinodynerus – Trichodynerus – Tropidodynerus – Tuleara –
X

Xanthodynerus – Xenorhynchium –
Z

Zeta – Zeteumenes – Zeteumenidion – Zethus

[source: Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (as Eumenidae)]
Name

Eumeninae

Type genus: Eumenes Latreille, 1802
References

Latreille, P.A. 1802. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes. Ouvrage faisant suite à l’histoire naturelle générale et particulière, composée par Leclerc de Buffon, et rédigée par C.S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs sociétés savantes. Familles naturelles des genres. Tome troisième. F. Dufart, Paris, xii + pp. 13–467 + [1 (errata)]. BHL Reference page.
Carpenter, J.M. 1986: A synonymic generic checklist of the Eumeninae (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Psyche, 93: 61–90.
Carpenter, J.M. & Madl, M., 2009: A Catalogue of the Vespidae of the Malagasy Subregion (Insecta, Hymenoptera). Linzer Biologische Beiträge, 41 (2): 1871–1935. Full article: [1].
Carpenter, J.M. & B.R. Garcete-Barrett. 2003: A key to the neotropical genera of Eumeninae.
Ferreira, W.D., Grandinete, Y.C., Lopes, R.B. & Hermes, M.G. 2015: A new contribution to the knowledge of Neotropical Eumeninae (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Zootaxa 3981(1): 117–124. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3981.1.6. Preview (PDF) Reference page.
Ferreira, W.D., Oliveira, L.A. de, Inez, T.G. & Hermes, M.G. 2017. A new species of Pirhosigma Giordani Soika, 1978 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae: Eumeninae), with additional notes and a key to the species in the genus. Zootaxa 4300(2): 269–278. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4300.2.8. Reference page.
Ferreira, W.D., Hermes, M.G., Garcete-Barrett, B.R. & Carpenter, J.M. 2019. Two new species of Pirhosigma Giordani Soika (Vespidae, Eumeninae), with an updated catalog for the genus. Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 71: 225–240. DOI: 10.3897/jhr.71.35754 Reference page.
Giordani Soika, 1989: Terzo contributo alla conoscenza degli eumenidi afrotropicali (Hymenoptera). Societa Veneziana di Scienze Naturali Lavori, 14(1):19-68.
Grandinete, Y.C., Noll, F.B. & Carpenter, J.M. 2016. Three new species of tribe Odynerini (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae) from the Neotropical Region. Zootaxa 4162(2): 391–400. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4162.2.13. Reference page.
Gusenleitner, J., 2006: Calligaster zetteli, eine neue Art von den Philippinen (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae). Linzer biologische Beiträge 38 (2): 1353–1355. Full article: [2]
Gusenleitner, J. 2016. Über Eumeninae aus dem Nahen Osten (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae). Linzer biologische Beiträge 48(1): 89-97. Full article zobodat (PDF).Reference page.
Li, T-J. & Carpenter, J.M. 2018. A taxonomic account of the genus Labus de Saussure, 1867 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae) with descriptions of three new species. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 65: 23–46. DOI: 10.3897/jhr.65.26976 Reference page.
Li, T-J. & Chen, B. 2015. Two new species of the newly recorded subgenus Tropidodynerus Blüthgen (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae) from China, with a key to the known species. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 43: 9–18. DOI: 10.3897/JHR.43.4473. Reference page.
Ma, Z-X., Chen, B. & Li, T-J. 2017. Four new species of Euodynerus Dalla Torre, 1904 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) from China, with a key to the Chinese species. Zootaxa 4300(2): 245–258. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4300.2.6. Reference page.
Nguyen, L.T.P. 2015a: Two new species of the genus Pararrhynchium de Saussure (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) from northern Vietnam. Zootaxa 3974(2): 170–176. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3974.2.2. Preview (PDF) Reference page.
Nguyen, L.T.P. 2016. Contribution to the taxonomy of the genus Coeleumenes van der Vecht, 1963 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) from Vietnam, with description of a new species. Zootaxa 4121(2): 175–180. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4121.2.7. Reference page.
Nguyen, L.T.P. & Xu, Z-F. 2015. Taxonomic notes on the genus Gribodia Zavattari, 1912 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) from Vietnam and China, with description of a new species. Zootaxa 4040(4): 458–464. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4040.4.5. Preview (PDF) Reference page.
Nugroho, H., Ubaidillah, R. & Kojima, J-I. 2016. Taxonomy of the Indo-Malayan presocial potter wasp genus Calligaster de Saussure (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 48: 19–32. DOI: 10.3897/JHR.48.7045. Reference page.
Nugroho, H.; Kojima, J.-I.; Ubaidillah, R. 2013: Review of potter wasps with a petiolate metasoma excluding so-called "Zethinae" (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) in the Lesser Sunda Islands of the Indonesian Archipelago. Zootaxa 3608(1): 1–25. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3608.1.1 Reference page.
de Oliveira, L.S., Ferreira, W.D., Inez, T.G. & Hermes, M.G. 2017. Contributions to the taxonomy of Minixi Giordani Soika and Alphamenes Van der Vecht (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae), with an identification key to the species of the latter. Zootaxa 4317(3): 530–540. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4317.3.5. Reference page.
Pannure, A., Belavadi, V.V. & Carpenter, J.M. 2016. Taxonomic studies on potter wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) of south India. Zootaxa 4171(1): 1–50. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4171.1.1. Reference page.
Selis, M. 2017. The genus Pseumenes Giordani Soika, 1935 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) in the Philippine Islands, with description of a new species. Zootaxa 4306(2): 296–300. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4306.2.11. Reference page.
Selis, M. 2018. Additions to the knowledge of solitary wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae), with description of eight new species. Zootaxa 4403(3): 441–468. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4403.3.2 Reference page.
Yamane, S. 1990: A revision of the Japanese Eumenidae (Hymenoptera, Vespoidea). Insecta matsumurana (n.s.), 43: 1–189.

Vernacular names
English: Potter and Mason Wasps
suomi: Erakkoampiaiset
français: Guêpes maçonnes
日本語: ドロバチ亜科
Nederlands: leemwespen

Potter wasps (or mason wasps), the Eumeninae, 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:

a posterolateral projection known as a parategula on both sides of the mesoscutum;
tarsal claws cleft;
hind coxae with a longitudinal dorsal carina or folding, often developed into a lobe or tooth, and;
fore wings with three 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 existing cavities (such as beetle tunnels in wood, abandoned nests of other Hymenoptera, or even man-made holes like old nail holes and 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 or several individual brood cells. The most widely used building material is mud made of a mixture of soil 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.[2]

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 a 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. For example, Euodynerus foraminatus paralyzes the larvae of the poison hemlock moth (A. alstroemeriana).[3] 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 starts to feed upon the supplied prey for a few weeks before pupating. The complete lifecycle 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
Main article: List of potter wasp genera

Potter wasps are the most diverse subfamily of vespids, with almost 200 genera, and contain the vast majority of species in the family (nearly 3,000 species from a total of about 4,500 in the whole family). The overwhelming morphological diversity of the potter wasp species is reflected in the proliferation of genera described to group them into more manageable groups. The subfamily Zethinae was formerly included here, but was removed when it was recognized that it rendered Eumeninae paraphyletic.[4]

References

Cirrus Digital: Potter Wasp and Mud Pot Nest
von Frisch, Karl (1974). Animal Architecture. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 55. ISBN 9780151072514.
McKenna, D.D.; Zangerl, A.R.; Berenbaum, M.R. (2001). "A native Hymenopteran predator of Agonopterix alstroemeriana (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae) in east-central Illinois". Great Lakes Entomologist. Michigan Entomological Society. 34: 71–75 – via CAB Direct.

PK Piekarski, JM Carpenter, AR Lemmon, E Moriarty-Lemmon, BJ Sharanowski (2018) Phylogenomic Evidence Overturns Current Conceptions of Social Evolution in Wasps (Vespidae). Molecular Biology and Evolution. doi:10.1093/molbev/msy124

James M. Carpenter (1986). "A synonymic generic checklist of the Eumeninae (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)" (PDF). Psyche. 93 (1–2): 61–90. doi:10.1155/1986/12489.
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 Beiträge 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.
Saussure, Henri de. 1852. Monographie des guêpes solitaires ou de la tribu des Euméniens. Genève, J. Cherbuliez, Paris, V. Masson.