1469 



Superfamily VESPOIDEA 



By Karl V. Krombein 



Included in this superfamily are several groups with quite diverse habits. The primitive fami- 

 ly Masaridae includes the only solitary wasps which store pollen and nectar as food for their lar- 

 vae rather than paralyzed or dismembered Arthropoda. The solitary eumenid wasps store para- 

 lyzed lepidopterous or coleopterous, or rarely hymenopterous, larvae as food for their young. All 

 of the truly social wasps belong to the family Vespidae. 



Taxonomy: Ashmead, 1902. Canad. Ent. 34: 163-166, 203-210, 219-221 (keys to families and 

 genera). — Dalla Torre, 1904. In Wytsman, Gen. Ins., fasc. 19, pp. 1-108, 6 pis. (keys and 

 species catalog). — Bequaert, 1928. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (10)2: 138-176 (notes on 

 vespoid types in British Museum). —Bequaert, 1928. Brooklyn Ent. Soc, Bui. 23: 53-63 

 (Fabricius types in Banks coll.). — Reid, 1942. Roy. Ent. Soc. London, Trans. 92: 285-331, 

 137 figs, (larval classification). —Richards, 1962. Revisional study of masarid wasps, pp. 

 3-27 (reclassification, key to subfamilies, phylogeny). — Charnley, 1973. Buffalo Soc. Nat. 

 Sci., Bui. 26: 1-79 (value of propodeal orifice and male genitalia in higher classification). 



Biology: Spradbery, 1973. Wasps, 408 pp., 28 pis., 131 text figs, (natural history of British 

 Vespoidea). 



Family MASARIDAE 



Revision: Bradley, 1922. Calif Univ., Pubs. Ent. 1: 361-464, 15 pis. (N. Amer. spp.). 

 —Richards, 1962. Revisional study of masarid wasps, 294 pp., 241 figs, (species of world). 



Taxonomy: Ashmead, 1902. Canad. Ent. 34: 219-221 (key to genera). —Bequaert, 1929. 



Psyche 36: 72-76, 81-88 (generic characters, distribution, phylogeny). —Bequaert, 1929. 



Psyche 36: 366-368 (fossil record). 

 Biology: Bequaert, 1929. Psyche 36: 76-80 (nesting habits, larval food). 



Subfamily EUPARAGIINAE 



This is the most primitive of the masarid wasps. The single included genus Euparagia is the 

 only masarid known to prey upon insect larvae as food for its young. 



Genus EUPARAGIA Cresson 



Euparagia Cresson, 1879. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., Proc. (Ent. Sect.). 6: vi. 



Type-species: Euparagia scutellaris Cresson. Monotypic. 

 Plesiomasaris Cameron, 1904. Amer. Ent. Soc, Trans. 30: 266. 



Type-species: Plesiomasaris ynaciiliceps Cameron. Monotypic. 



