Pseudomasaris
Encyclopedia
Pseudomasaris is a genus of pollen wasp
s of the family Vespidae, found in North America
. They feed on pollen
and are coloured black with yellow markings that mimic the colouration of yellow jacket wasp
s.
Pollen wasp
Pollen wasps are unusual wasps that are typically treated as a subfamily of Vespidae, but have in the past sometimes been recognized as a separate family, "Masaridae", which also included the subfamily Euparagiinae. It is a small subfamily, unique among wasps in feeding their larvae exclusively...
s of the family Vespidae, found in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. They feed on pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
and are coloured black with yellow markings that mimic the colouration of yellow jacket wasp
Wasp
The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
s.
Species
Pseudomasaris contains 15 species :- Pseudomasaris basirufus Rohwer, 1912
- Pseudomasaris cazieri Bohart, 1963
- Pseudomasaris coquilletti Rohwer, 1911
- Pseudomasaris edwardsii (Cresson, 1872)
- Pseudomasaris macneilli Bohart, 1963
- Pseudomasaris macswaini Bohart, 1963
- Pseudomasaris maculifrons (Fox, 1894)
- Pseudomasaris marginalis (Cresson, 1864)
- Pseudomasaris micheneri Bohart, 1963
- Pseudomasaris occidentalis (Cresson, 1871)
- Pseudomasaris phaceliae Rohwer, 1912
- Pseudomasaris texanus (Cresson, 1871)
- Pseudomasaris vespoides (Cresson, 1863)
- Pseudomasaris wheeleri Bequard, 1929
- Pseudomasaris zonalis (Cresson, 1864)
External links
- Pseudomasaris, ZipCodeZoo
- Pseudomasaris, Global Biodiversity Information Facility