Pompilinae Explained

The Pompilinae are a subfamily of the spider wasp family, Pompilidae, the species of which lay their eggs on the paralyzed bodies of their prey.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

Tribal classification has been revised numerous times with little consensus between authors. Bradley's 1944 classification used 7 tribes: Allocharini, Allocyphononychini, Aporini, Ctenocerini, Epipompilini, Pedinaspini, Pompilini. Evans's 1951 classification only included 5 of these tribes, omitting Allocharini and Allocyphononychini. Ctenocerini has since been elevated to subfamily status as Ctenocerinae, and Epipompilini has been omitted by Pitts et al. in 2006. Engel and Grimaldi, later in 2006, included 17 extant tribes: Allocharini, Allocyphonychini, Anoplageniini, Anopliini, Aporini (with 3 subtribes), Cordyloscelidini, Eidopompilini, Entomoborini, Episyronini, Notocyphini, Pedinaspini, Pompilini, Psammoderini, Pseudopompilini, Spuridiophorini, Tachypompilini, and Teinotrachelini. Waichert et al. added two additional tribes in 2015, Priochilini with 2 genera and Sericopompilini with a single genus. While Ghahari et al. reinstated Homonotini in 2014 as a separate tribe from Aporini, Loktionov and Lelej maintained the treatment of Engel and Grimaldi as a subtribe of Aporini. In 2015, Waichert et al. removed Notocyphini from Pompilinae, treating it as the separate subfamily, Notocyphinae. Loktionov's 2023 distributional catalog included the type genera of Cordyloscelidini and Spuridiophorini and the type genus of Teinotrachelini under Ctenocerinae. The type genera of Allocyphonychini, Anoplageniini, and Pedinaspini were also omitted.

The summary of the represented tribes is as follows:

Description and identification

Pompilinae are distinguished from sister subfamilies by minute differences in head structure, leg morphology, and wing venation. The eyes have oval to only slightly sinuate inner margins, and the labrum is short. The middle and hind legs have tibial spurs of unequal lengths and femora with small spines or pits. The hind leg additionally has wide, blade-like bristles on the fifth tasomere. The forewing has the medial vein (M) falling short of the margin and the second cubital vein (Cu2) bent at the base rather than straight.

Genera

The subfamily Pompilinae contains 107 genera:

Subtribe Aporina

Subtribe Ferreolina

Subtribe Homonotina

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