Pompilus (wasp)

Pompilus

Pompilus cinereus with prey
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Suborder:	Apocrita
Family:	Pompilidae
Genus:	Pompilus Fabricius, 1798

Pompilus is a genus of spider wasps in the family Pompilidae the members of which prey on spiders. There are seven species recognised in Pompilus sensu stricto.^[1] It is the type genus of the family Pompilidae and the sub-family Pompilinae.

Biology

Pompilus wasps are fossorial, stocking short burrows in sand with single spiders of various families upon which they lay a single egg.^[1]

Distribution

The members of Pompilus are widely distributed throughout the Old World, in both temperate and tropical regions but with the greatest diversity in Africa.^[1]

The species are^[1]

Pompilus cinereus (Fabricius 1775) Leaden spider wasp
Pompilus mirandus (Saussure 1867)
Pompilus cadmius Saussure 1892
Pompilus bilineatus (Arnold 1937)
Pompilus botswana Day 1972
Pompilus irpex Gerstaecker, 1858
Pompilus niveus Saunders 1901

References

1 2 3 4 Day M.C (1981) A revision of Pompilus (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera : Pompilidae), with further nomenclatural and biological considerations; Volume 42, Issue 1 of Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History).: Entomology, British Museum (Natural History),

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