Belongs within: Bembicidae.
A simple sand wasp
Published 21 October 2022
Meet Argogorytes. Sand wasps of this genus may be found around the world, being known from all continental regions except sub-Saharan Africa (Bohart & Menke 1976). Over 25 species have been described to date though the genus is poorly revised in many places.
Argogorytes is a morphogically generalised genus that has been widely considered one of the most primitive of its family. Distinguishing features include eyes with a sinuate inner margin, placed so the frons is narrower at the level of the mid ocellus than just below it, a strong acetabular carina on the underside of the mesopleuron, and a foveate sulcus at the front of the scutellum. Antennae are not modified in the males, and the gaster is not strongly pedunculate. Males have the eighth sternite on the gaster apically narrow and sword-shaped. Females have a distinct pygidial plate with dense, fine bristles towards the apex (Bohart & Menke 1976). Species of the genus remain structurally quire similar throughout its range.
Knowledge of the natural history of Argogorytes is limited but was reviewed by Callan (1980). Females nest in small colonies, digging holes in sandy soil or slopes. Burrows contain multiple cells and may be up to twenty centimetres long and ten centimetres deep. Recorded prey are planthoppers of the Issidae or spittlebug nymphs of the Aphrophoridae. The latter are plucked by the wasp from their protective mass of spittle, either by plunging the head in or by inserting the legs and sting. The prey is then flown back to the nest carried underneath the wasp between the mid legs. Nests are often left open when the female is away but at least one species, the East Asian A. mystaceus grandis, has been reported to close them while foraging. Each cell of a nest may contain multiple prey individuals (up to 30 have been recorded in a unicellular nest of the Palaearctic A. fargeii) but it does not seem to have been established whether multiple eggs may also be laid in a cell, or whether a single egg is laid and the larva consumes multiple prey.
Adult Argogorytes have been observed feeding at flowers of Umbelliferae. Males are rarely reported but one aspect of male biology that has received its fair share of attention is the relationship between the Palaearctic A. mystaceus and the orchid Ophrys insectifera. The latter species, one of the notorious bee orchids, produces pheromones resembling those of a sexually receptive Argogorytes female. And the males just can’t help themselves.
Systematics of Argogorytes
<==Argogorytes Ashmead 1899NP09 [incl. Archarpactus Pate 1937 (nom. inv.)BM76, Malaygorytes Nemkov 1999NP09]
|--*A. carbonarius (Smith 1856) [=Gorytes carbonarius; incl. G. trichiosoma Cameron 1888]BM76
|--A. areatus (Taschenberg 1875) [=Gorytes areatus]BM76
|--A. basalis (Smith 1860) [=Gorytes basalis]BM76
|--A. caerulescens (Turner 1914) [=Gorytes caerulescens]BM76
|--A. constrictus (Smith 1859) [=Gorytes constrictus]BM76
|--A. crucigera (Hacker & Cockerell 1922) [=Arpactus crucigera]BM76
|--A. fairmairei (Handlirsch 1893) [=Gorytes fairmairei]BM76
|--A. fargeii (Shuckard 1837) [=Gorytes fargeii]BM76
|--A. fuliginosus Tsuneki 1968BM76
|--A. hispanicus (Mercet 1906) [=Gorytes hispanicus]BM76
|--A. konishii (Nemkov 1999) [=Malaygorytes konishii]NP09
|--A. matangensis (Turner 1914) [=Gorytes matangensis]BM76
|--A. mongolensis Tsuneki 1970BM76
|--A. mystaceus (Linnaeus 1761)BM76 (see below for synonymy)
| |--A. m. mystaceusBM76
| `--A. m. grandis (Gussakovskij 1932)NP09 [=Gorytes grandisBM76]
|--A. nigrifrons (Smith 1856) (see below for synonymy)BM76
|--A. nipponis Tsuneki 1963BM76
|--A. przewalskyi Kazenas 1971 [=A. przewalskii Kazenas 1972]BM76
|--A. rubrosignatus (Turner 1915) [=Arpactus rubrosignatus]BM76
|--A. rufomixtus (Turner 1914) [=Gorytes rufomixtus]BM76
|--A. sapellonis (Baker 1907) [=Gorytes sapellonis]BM76
|--A. secernendus (Turner 1915) [=Arpactus secernendus]BM76
|--A. similicolor (Dow 1933) [=Gorytes similicolor]BM76
|--A. stenopygus (Handlirsch 1895) [=Gorytes stenopygus]BM76
|--A. tonkinensis (Yasumatsu 1943) [=Gorytes tonkinensis]BM76
|--A. umbratilis Bohart 2000NP09
`--A. vagus (Smith 1859) [=Gorytes vagus]BM76
Argogorytes mystaceus (Linnaeus 1761)BM76 [=Sphex mystaceusBM76; incl. Mellinus arpactus Fabricius 1804BM76, Crabro bicinctus Fabricius 1793 (nom. rej.) non Rossi 1794BM76, Vespa campestris Linnaeus 1761BM76, Argogorytes campestrisE66, Gorytes croceipes Eversmann 1849BM76, V. flavicincta Donovan 1808BM76, V. inimica Harris 1776BM76, Sphex longicornis Rossi 1790BM76, Gorytes tonus Bondroit 1933BM76]
Argogorytes nigrifrons (Smith 1856) [=Gorytes nigrifrons; incl. G. bollii Cresson 1872, G. neglectus Rohwer 1911 non Handlirsch 1895]BM76
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[BM76] Bohart, R. M., & A. S. Menke. 1976. Sphecid Wasps of the World. University of California Press: Berkeley.
Callan, E. M. 1980. Nesting behavior and prey of Argogorytes Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae). Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 70 (4): 160–165.
[E66] Evans, H. E. 1966. The Comparative Ethology and Evolution of the Sand Wasps. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).
[NP09] Nemkov, P. G., & W. J. Pulawski. 2009. A cladistic analysis of Gorytina (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae: Bembicini), with a reclassification of the subtribe. Zootaxa 2069: 1–17.