Belongs within: Psenini.
Mimesa
Published 4 May 2026
The apoid wasps of the family Psenidae can be a tricky group to handle. With their small size and long, slender petiole at the base of the metasoma, they are easy enough to recognise as a whole, but distinguishing taxa within the family may be more of a challenge. Several genera are recognised within the family, with Mimesa being one of the more diverse.
About seventy species of Mimesa have been described to date, all found in one part or another of the Holarctic realm. Most are black in coloration with at least one segment of the metasoma red. Other significant features include a transverse carina on the pronotal collar, an omaulus (a ridge on the lower part of the mesopleuron) that curves semicircularly forwards and does not reach the midline of the sternum, and hind wings with the media vein dividing in two before it reaches the cu-a crossvein (Bohart & Menke 1976). Most species are fairly uniform in appearance, and distinguishing them requires close examination of fine features such as the length and sculpture of the petiole, the mesosomal punctation, and the shape of the clypeus.
The natural history of most Mimesa species is little known. Nests are generally constructed in firm soil or sandy clay, often where the ground is reasonably flat. Soil removed in constructing the nest is often shaped into a turret surrounding its entrance. Each nest contains several cells. The main burrow extends vertically downwards, sometimes for several inches. At the bottom of this drop, it may branch in several directions horizontally (Bohart & Menke 1976), or continue downwards obliquely with cells alongside the main burrow (Kurczewski & O’Brien 1983). Prey consists of cicadellid leafhoppers with several leafhoppers cached in each cell. An egg is laid on the leafhopper placed nearest the cell entrance, and then the cell is closed up once provisioning is complete.
Systematics of Mimesa
Mimesa Shuckard 1837 [=Aporia Wesmael 1852 non Hübner 1820, Aporina Gussakovskij 1937 non Fuhrmann 1902]BM76
|--*M. equestris (Fabricius 1804) (see below for synonymy)BM76
|--M. aegyptiaca Radoszkowski 1876BM76
|--M. agalena Gittins 1966BM76
|--M. albopilosa (Tsuneki 1972) [=Psen albopilosus]BM76
|--M. angulicollis (Tsuneki 1972) [=Psen angulicollis]BM76
|--M. arizonensis (Malloch 1933) [=Psen arizonensis]BM76
|--M. barri Gittins 1966BM76
|--M. basirufa Packard 1867 [incl. M. nebrascensis Smith 1908]BM76
|--M. beckeri Tournier 1889BM76
|--M. bicolor (Jurine 1807) [=Psen bicolor; incl. Trypoxylon basale Stephens 1829]BM76
|--M. ‘bidentata’ (Gussakovskij 1937) [=Psen bidentatus non Cameron 1910]BM76
|--M. brevis Maidl 1914BM76
|--M. breviventris Morawitz 1891BM76
|--M. bruxellensis Bondroit 1934 [incl. Psen rossicus Gussakovskij 1937]BM76
|--M. caucasica Maidl 1914 [incl. Psen tenuis Oehlke 1965]BM76
|--M. chinensis (Gussakovskij 1937) [=Psen chinensis]BM76
|--M. concors (Gussakovskij 1937) [=Psen concors]BM76
|--M. coquilletti (Rohwer 1910) [=Psen coquilletti]BM76
|--M. crassipes Costa 1871 (see below for synonymy)BM76
|--M. cressonii Packard 1867 [incl. M. conica Smith 1908, M. denticulata Packard 1867]BM76
| |--M. c. cressoniiBM76
| `--M. c. atriventris (Malloch 1933) [=Psen atriventris]BM76
|--M. dawsoni Mickel 1916BM76
|--M. dzingis (Tsuneki 1972) [=Psen dzingis]BM76
|--M. edentata (Malloch 1933) [=Psen edentatus]BM76
|--M. empeyi (van Lith 1974) [=Psen empeyi]BM76
|--M. ezra (Pate 1944) [=Psen ezra; incl. M. argentifrons Cresson 1865 non Psen argentifrons Cresson 1865]BM76
|--M. fallax Morawitz 1893BM76
|--M. filippovi (Gussakovskij 1937) [=Psen filippovi]BM76
|--M. grandii Maidl 1933 [incl. Psen carinatus Gussakovskij 1937]BM76
|--M. granulosa (Fox 1898) [=Psen granulosus]BM76
|--M. gregaria (Fox 1898) [=Psen gregarius]BM76
| |--M. g. gregariaBM76
| `--M. g. ‘simplex’ (Malloch 1933) [=Psen simplex non Tournier 1889]BM76
|--M. gussakovskiji (Beaumont 1941) [=Psen gussakovskiji]BM76
|--M. hissarica (Gussakovskij 1935) [=Psen hissaricus]BM76
|--M. impressifrons (Malloch 1933) [=Psen impressifrons]BM76
|--M. inflata (van Lith 1968) [=Psen inflatus]BM76
|--M. jacobsoni (Gussakovskij 1937) [=Psen jacobsoni]BM76
|--M. kaszabi (Tsuneki 1972) [=Psen kaszabi]BM76
|--M. lutaria (Fabricius 1787) (see below for synonymy)BM76
|--M. maculipes (Fox 1893) [=Psen maculipes; incl. P. nigrescens Rohwer 1910, P. perplexus Rohwer 1910]BM76
|--M. mexicana Cameron 1891BM76
|--M. mongolica Morawitz 1889BM76
|--M. nigrita Eversmann 1849 [incl. Psen sibiricus Beaumont 1937]BM76
|--M. pauper Packard 1867 [incl. M. cingulata Packard 1867]BM76
|--M. pekingensis (Tsuneki 1971) [=Psen pekingensis]BM76
|--M. polita (Malloch 1933) [=Psen politus]BM76
|--M. proxima Cresson 1865BM76
|--M. punctifrons (Malloch 1933) [=Psen punctifrons]BM76
|--M. punctipleuris (Gussakovskij 1937) [=Psen punctipleuris]BM76
|--M. pygidialis (Malloch 1933) [=Psen pygidialis]BM76
|--M. sabina Gittins 1966BM76
|--M. sciaphila (Arcidiacono 1965) [=Psen sciaphilus]BM76
|--M. shestakovi (Gussakovskij 1937) [=Psen shestakovi]BM76
|--M. sublaevis (Beaumont 1954) [=Psen sublaevis]BM76
|--M. unicincta Cresson 1865BM76
`--M. vindobonensis Maidl 1914BM76
Mimesa crassipes Costa 1871 [incl. M. carbonaria Costa 1871 non Smith 1865, M. costae André 1888, M. helvetica Tournier 1889, M. lixivia Tournier 1889, M. ochroptera Costa 1871, M. pannonica Maidl 1914]BM76
*Mimesa equestris (Fabricius 1804) [=Trypoxylon equestre, *Aporia equestris, *Aporina equestris, Psen equestris; incl. P. rufus Panzer 1805]BM76
Mimesa lutaria (Fabricius 1787) [=Sphex lutarius; incl. M. dispar Gussakovskij 1937, M. japonica Pérez 1905, M. shuckardi Wesmael 1852, Psen shuckardi]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.
Kurczewski, F. E., & M. F. O’Brien. 1983. A note on the nesting of Mimesa lutaria (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae). Great Lakes Entomologist 16 (4): 167–169.