Pompilidae

Pompilidae

[pam′pil·ə‚dē]

(invertebrate zoology)

The spider wasps, the single family of the superfamily Pompiloidea.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Pompilidae

 

(synonym, Psammocharidae), the spider wasps, a family of aculeate hymenopterous insects of the superfamily Vespoidea. Generally the insects are of large or medium size. There are more than 3,000 species distributed throughout the world, especially in the tropics. About 150 species are found in the USSR, the greatest diversity occurring in the Transcaucasus and Middle Asia. Most pompilids dig burrows in the ground, where they lay their eggs on spiders that have been paralyzed by stings and that serve as food for the larvae. Some species use prey provisioned by other pompilids.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.