Campsomerini Explained

Campsomerini is a cosmopolitan tribe of the family Scoliidae. An older, alternative representation of this group is as a subfamily, Campsomerinae.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

Campsomerinae was originally described by Betrem in 1972 as a sister group to the Scoliinae comprising the scoliid wasps with two recurrent veins. This subfamily was further divided into the Campsomerini for species with two submarginal cells and Trielidini for species with three submarginal cells. Following the discovery of the genus Proscolia, the Campsomerinae and Scoliinae of Betrem were demoted to tribes, Campsomerini and Scoliini, under a newly-defined Scoliinae by Day et al. in 1981. In 1996, Argaman re-elevated the tribes to subfamily status, along with elevating Betrem's Trielidini to a separate subfamily as Colpinae. Argaman further subdivided his Campsomerinae into 8 tribes (Trisciloini, Tetrascitonini, Pseudotrielidini, Dobrobetini, Campsomerini, Colpacampsomerini, Megacampsomerini, and Dielidini) and his Colpinae into 5 tribes (Dasyscoliini, Curtaurgini, Heterelini, Colpini, and Trielidini) but did so without any phylogenetic analysis. Argaman's revisions to higher taxonomy, however, were not maintained in Osten's 2005 checklist, and Osten again treated the group as tribe Campsomerini. In a review of the scoliid wasps of North America, Kimsey et al. likewise maintained Campsomerini as a tribe but excluded the genus Colpa to maintain monophyly, with the suggestion that Colpa and its allies more likely either represent a separate tribe as Colpini or a subset of Scoliini.

Genera

Genera within this tribe include: