Table of Contents

Foreword by Mary Alice Evans Preface 1. Introduction A Sand Wasp Sojourn Sand Wasp Natural History'/'Sand Wasp Science Sand Wasp Classification: A Short Course Biology of the Bembicinae: A Primer 2. Cool Wasps of the Alyssontini Alysson Overview of the Tribe Alyssontini 3. Cicada and Hopper Hunters of the Gorytini Clitemnestra Exeirus Sphecius Tanyoprymnus Ammatomus Argogorytes Harpactus Trichogorytes Austrogorytes Gorytes Pseudoplisus Lestiphorus Liogorytes Hoplisoides Sagenista Overview of the Tribe Gorytini 4. Brood Parasites of the Nyssonini Nysson Acanthostethus Zanysson Overview of the Tribe Nyssonini 5. Stizini: A Mixed Tribe of Hopper Hunters and Brood Parasites Stizus Stizoides Bembecinus 6. Bembicini: The Diverse New World Genera Bicyrtes Microbembex Hemidula Rubrica Selman Stictia Editha Trichostictia Zyzzyx Stictiella Microstictia Glenostictia Xerostictia Steniolia 7. Bembicini: The Cosmopolitan Genus Bembix Nearctic Bembix Neotropical Bembix Palearctic Bembix Oriental Bembix Afrotropical Bembix Australasian Bembix Overview of Bembix 8. Comparative Ethology of Sand Wasps Habitat Nesting Substrate Nest Dispersion: Causes and Consequences Interspecific Nesting Associations Nest Construction Orientation and Homing Oviposition and Provisioning Estimates of Lifetime Reproductive Success Prey Type Measuring Prey Diversity Hunting and Prey Paralysis Prey Carriage Feeding by Adults Brood Parasitic Bembicinae Natural Enemies Male Behavior Sleeping Sand Wasp Conservation Appendix: Research Wish List References Index

Promotional Information

Forty years ago, in The Comparative Ethology and Evolution of Sand Wasps, Howard Ensign Evans surveyed all that was known of the behavior of sand wasps. By mapping on the group's cladogram the modifications of their behavior (in nest building, brood provisioning, prey carrying, egg laying, etc.), he showed with unusual clarity the origins and evolution of these wasps' behavior patterns. The present work by Evans and Kevin O'Neill provides a beautiful update of our knowledge of this behaviorally and ecologically diverse group of wasps. The authors show ever so clearly how this group of large, brightly colored, and behaviorally complex wasps remains attractive to students of animal behavior, and how it offers tremendous potential for an integration of phylogenetic analyses with comparative behavioral studies to reveal a remarkable adaptive radiation in insect behavior. -- Thomas D. Seeley, Cornell University, author of The Wisdom of the Hive: The Social Physiology of Honey Bee Colonies

About the Author

Howard E. Evans was Professor Emeritus of Entomology, Colorado State University. From 1960 to 1973, he was at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. He was author of The Comparative Ethology and Evolution of the Sand Wasps and co-author of William Morton Wheeler, Biologist (both from Harvard), among many other books. Kevin M. O'Neill is Professor of Entomology, Montana State University, and author of Solitary Wasps: Natural History and Behavior.

Reviews

This book will be an essential reference for any wasp researcher, beginning or established, as well as an indispensable library holding… The volume summarizes a large literature that would be difficult for any single investigator to assemble, given the many obscure, scattered sources cited and the diversity of languages translated… Given the remarkable expansion of knowledge described in this work, one wonders what the next 40 years of sand wasp research will reveal.
*Quarterly Review of Biology*

Forty years ago, in The Comparative Ethology and Evolution of the Sand Wasps, Howard Ensign Evans surveyed all that was known of the behavior of sand wasps. By mapping on the group’s cladogram the modifications of their behavior (in nest building, brood provisioning, prey carrying, egg laying, etc.), he showed with unusual clarity the origins and evolution of these wasps’ behavior patterns. The present work by Evans and Kevin O’Neill provides a beautiful update of our knowledge of this behaviorally and ecologically diverse group of wasps. The authors show ever so clearly how this group of large, brightly colored, and behaviorally complex wasps remains attractive to students of animal behavior, and how it offers tremendous potential for an integration of phylogenetic analyses with comparative behavioral studies to reveal a remarkable adaptive radiation in insect behavior.
*Thomas D. Seeley, Cornell University, author of The Wisdom of the Hive: The Social Physiology of Honey Bee Colonies*