Sphex jamaicensis . Wasps of the genus Sphex (commonly known as digger wasps) are cosmopolitan predators of the family Sphecidae that sting and paralyze their prey .
Summary
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- 1 Species in Cuba
- 2 Morphological description
- 3 Zoology
- 1 Playback
- 2 Nesting
- 3 Hatching of the eggs
- 4 Different species of the genus Sphex
- 5 Reference
- 6Fuente
Species in Cuba
Four species of the genus Sphex live in Cuba, where Sphex jamaicensis ( Drury) is the most common. Aspects of the nesting behavior of S. jamaicensis, Sphex mandibularis Cresson, and Sphex cubensis (Fernald) were studied at various locations during 1986-1993 .
Morphological description
Sphex jamaicensis with its filamentous antennae
It has filamentary antennae, large, curved jaws , with two teeth on its inner face, the narrow, strangulated propectum , the bulging and strangulated prenotum.
The abdomen with a single-segmented, cylindrical, smooth peduncle , the tibias with a spiny outer edge, the nails with teeth on the lower surface, and the forewings with three transverse cubital veins, the second cubital cell receiving the first recurrent vein, and the third the second.
Zoology
Wasps are divided into two large groups: solitary and social, depending on whether they live in isolation (eumenids) or form a society (vespids). Wasps of the second type build a nest, the wasp nest, characteristic of each species. [1] ,
Reproduction
When it is time to reproduce, the wasp builds a cave with the entrance at the top of a mound. She lays her eggs inside and goes hunting.
nesting
Sphex in the nesting phase
In preparation for laying eggs, they build a protected “nest” (some species dig nests in the ground, while others use pre-existing holes) and then stock up on captured insects. When it finds prey (a cricket , a grasshopper , a caterpillar ) it sticks its stinger into it to inject toxins that paralyze the prey but keep it alive.
The prey are left alive, but paralyzed by the wasp’s toxins . The wasps lay their eggs in the provisioned nest. When the wasp larvae hatch, they feed on the paralyzed insects. It drags its prey with great effort to the top of the mound and goes in to check that everything is still in order, introduces the prey into the cave, depositing it next to the eggs.
hatching of eggs
When the eggs hatch into larvae , they feed on the paralyzed prey left behind by their mother. For this reason, there are those who consider the Sphex wasp a “sadistic” insect . Although this behavior makes sphex wasps appear intelligent, it is nothing more than a totally rigid, mechanical, and routine sequence of actions.
The wasp enters to check that everything is going well, moves the cricket a few centimeters from the threshold of the cave, and when it finishes its inspection and leaves, it will raise its prey to the top of the mound , to put it on the threshold of the cave in instead of inside, and it will go back in to check that everything is correct.
The operation is repeated and the prey is moved a few centimeters again, the wasp will go back up the mound with the prey, deposit it on the threshold of the cave and go back in to check everything. The wasp is doomed to follow its genetic algorithm and drag its prey over and over again up the mound to the threshold of the cave .
Different species of the genus Sphex
This genus Sphex comprises a hundred species, some of great size, distributed throughout the world, all nest on land , of which we have:
- Sphex abyssinicus Arnold, 1928
- Sphex ahasverus Kohl, 1890
- Sphex alacer Kohl, 1895
- Sphex antennatus F. Smith, 1856
- Blue Sphex Drury, 1773
- Sphex misty Erichson of 1849
- Sphex camposi Campos, 1922
- Sphex carbonicolor Van der Vecht, 1973
- Sphex castaneipes Dahlbom de 1843
- Sphex ephippium F. Smith, 1856
- Sphex ermineus Kohl, 1890
- Sphex erythrinus Guiglia, 1939
- Sphex ferrugineipes W. Fox, 1897
- Sphex finschii Kohl, 1890
- Sphex incomptus Gerstaecker, 1871
- Sphex giant F. Smith, 1856
- Sphex inusitatus Yasumatsu, 1935
- Sphex jamaicensis (Drury, 1773)
- Sphex jansei Cameron, 1910
- Sphex leuconotus Brulle from 1833
- Sphex libycus Beaumont, 1956
- The sphex of Luca Saussure, 1867
- Sphex luteosus F. Smith, 1856
- Sphex madasummae Van der Vecht, 1973
- Sphex nitidiventris Spinola, 1851
- Sphex nudus Fernald, 1903 – Wasp Katydid
- Sphex observabilis (R. Turner, 1918)
- Sphex opacus Dahlbom de 1845
- Sphex optimus F. Smith, 1856
- Sphex oxianus Gussakovskij, 1928
- Sphex paulinierii Guérin-Méneville from 1843
- Sphex pensylvanicus Linnaeus, 1763 – Gran Wasp Negro
- Sphex rhodosoma (R. Turner, 1915)
- Sphex rufinervis Pérez, 1985
- Sphex rufiscutis (R. Turner, 1918)
- Sphex rugifer Kohl, 1890
- Sphex torridus F. Smith, 1873
- Sphex vestitutus F. Smith, 1856
- Sphex walshae Hensen, 1991
- Sphex wilson’s Hensen, 1991
