Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 159
Thorax and part of gaster of an ant - family
Formicidae (petiole shaded).
Fig. 160
Head of a wasp - family Vespidae.
21. Family MUTILLIDAE (velvet ants)
particular economic significance (primarily as
important predators but also as minor pests).
EXAMPLES:
Vespa crabro
(hornet),
Vespula
vulgaris
(common wasp).
Parasitic insects with a hard, black and red body
shell; body partly clothed in a silvery, velvet-like
pubescence; females apterous and superficially
ant-like; males usually winged.
EXAMPLE:
Mutilla europaea,
a parasitoid of
bumblebees.
Superfamily APOIDEA (bees)
Medium-sized to large, usually distinctly hairy
solitary or social insects. Body hairs typically
branched or plumose; hind tarsi usually broad
and often densely hairy; antennae 10-, 12- or 13-
segmented. Adults and larvae feed on nectar
(some also on honey) and pollen. Most bees,
whether solitary or social, are useful pollinators
of flowering plants and several species are used
commercially. The following families are of
greatest economic importance.
Superfamily
FORMICOIDEA
Includes a single family, nowadays often in-
cluded in the superfamily Scolioidea.
22. Family FORMICIDAE (ants)
(p.
253
et seq.)
Antennae geniculate and usually 4- to 13-
segmented; first or first and second gastral seg-
ments small but often with distinctive
outgrowths
(Fig. 159).
Ants are colony-inhabit-
ing, social insects with a caste system including
males, females (queens) and workers.
EXAMPLE:
Easius flavus
(yellow meadow ant).
24. Family ANDRENIDAE
Females with densely hairy femora and tibiae;
tongue usually short and ovate.
EXAMPLE:
Andrena fulva
(tawny burrowing
bee) - although a useful pollinator, this species
can be a nuisance when its nesting burrows are
formed in lawns and bowling greens or in
sandy banks in public places.
Superfamily VESPOIDEA (wasps)
23. Family VESPIDAE (wasps)
(p.
253
et seq.)
Eyes deeply notched
(Fig. 160);
wings folded
longitudinally when in repose; antennae usually
12- or 13-segmented; pronotum extending back
to tegulae. Wasp larvae are carnivorous, but
adults feed on nectar and other sugary sub-
stances. The family includes solitary and social
species. Social wasps of the genus
Vespula
are of
25. Family ANTHOPHORIDAE
(flower bees)
Densely hairy, bumblebee-like species but
compound eyes extending down sides of head
to the mandibles
(Fig. 161)
and hind femur
