VESPIDAE Laicharting, 1781
(potter, mason and social wasps)

Subtaxon Example images Rank Featured
subtaxa
No of
images
No of
ID refs
Female (Click to open)
Subfamily 5 subtaxa 41 images 3 ident. refs
Genus 1 subtaxa 1 ident. refs
Male (Click to open)
Subfamily 9 subtaxa 147 images 7 ident. refs
Taxonomic hierarchy:
FamilyVESPIDAE (potter, mason and social wasps)
SuperfamilyVESPOIDEA (wasps)
InfraorderAculeata (aculeates: bees, wasps and ants)
SuborderAPOCRITA (bees, wasps, ants and parasitoids)
OrderHYMENOPTERA (ants, bees and wasps, sawflies and parasitoid wasps)
Division Endopterygota (bees, beetles, flies, moths and other insects with wings developing internally)
InfraclassNeoptera (bees, beetles, flies, grasshoppers, moths and other advanced insects)
SubclassPTERYGOTA (bees, beetles, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, moths and other winged insects)
ClassINSECTA (true insects)
SubphylumHEXAPODA (insects and other 6-legged organisms)
PhylumARTHROPODA (arthropods)
SuperphylumECDYSOZOA (skin shedders)
CladeBilateria (bilaterally symmetrical animals)
SubkingdomEUMETAZOA (metazoans)
KingdomANIMALIA (animals)
DomainEukaryota (eukaryotes)
LifeBIOTA (living things)

Identification Works

AuthorYearTitleSource
Archer, M.E. 2014 Vespoid Wasps (Tiphiidea, Mutillidae, Sapygidae, Scoliidae and Vespidae) Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, Vol 6 Pt 6, 82pp, The Royal Entomological Society of London
Archer, M.E. 1979 Hymenoptera: Vespidae - social wasps Provisional atlas of the Insects of the British Isles, second edition edition, 20pp, Biological Records Centre
Archer, M.E. Key to European Vespinea Archer, M.E. Key to European Vespinea, 10pp, BWARS members handbook
Audibert, C. Notes sur les Vespidae : biologie, systématique et clé d’identification des espèces Bulletin du Club Rosa No 16: 21-27.
Berland, L. 1928 *** Hyménoptères Vespiformes II (Eumenidae, Vespidae, Masaridae, Bethylidae, Dryinidae, Embolemidae) ***(Superseded) Faune de France, Faune No 19, 208pp, Fédération Française des Sociétés de Science Naturel
Dvorak, L. & Roberts, S.P.M. 2006 Key to the paper and social wasps of Central Europe (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) Acta entomologica musei nationalis Pragae Vol 46: 221-244.
() Else, G.R. 1994 Identification: Social Wasps British Wildlife British Wildlife: 304-311.
Falk, S. Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants and relatives) www.flickr.com/photos/63075200@N07/collections/72157629294459686/
() Heath, J., Harding, P.T. & Archer, M.E. 1979 Provisional atlas of the insects of the British Isles. Part 9 Vespidae: Social wasps 2nd ed edition, 21pp, Biological Records Centre
() Løken, A. 1964 Social Wasps in Norway (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) Norsk. Ent. Tidskr. 12: 31-56.
Peeters, T.M.J., Van Achterberg, C., Heitmans, W.R.B., Klein, W.F., Lefeber, V., Van Loon, A.J., Mabelis, A.A., Nieuwenhuijsen, H. Reemer, M., De Rond, J., Smit, J. & Velthuis, H.H.W. 2004 De Wespen en Mieren van Nederland (Hymenoptera : Aculeata) Nederlandse Fauna, No 6, 516pp, Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Naturalis
() Pendleton, T. & D. Hymenoptera: the identification of Nottinghamshire Social Wasps www.eakringbirds.com/eakringbirds2/insectswaspsidentification.htm
Spradbery, J.P. 1973 Wasps: an account of the biology and natural history of solitary and social wasps 408pp, Sidgwick & Jackson, London

Nests

Spradbery, J.P. 1973 Wasps: an account of the biology and natural history of solitary and social wasps 408pp, Sidgwick & Jackson, London
Wenzel, J.W. 1998 A generic key to the nests of hornets, yellowjackets, and paper wasps worldwide (Vespidae: Vespinae, Polistinae) American Museum Novitates No 3224.

Solitary Species

() Yeo, P.F., & Corbet, S.A. 1995 Solitary Wasps Naturalists’ Handbooks, 3, The Richmond Publishing Co. Ltd

VESPIDAE (potter, mason and social wasps) may also be included in identification literature listed under the following higher taxa:

NBNNBN (data.nbn.org.uk) has a distribution map for VESPIDAE (potter, mason and social wasps)
BioInfoBioInfo (www.bioinfo.org.uk) has 74 host/parasite/foodplant and/or other relationships for VESPIDAE (potter, mason and social wasps)
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