TiphiidaePentazeleboria janeta Tiphiid Flower Wasp (family Tiphiidae)

— related pages: Blue Hairy Flower Wasp | Flower Wasps | Hairy Flower Wasps | Thynnid Wasps

The family Tiphiidae, collectively known as Tiphiid Wasps, Flower Wasps, or Tiphiid Flower Wasps are a group of large, solitary wasps, whose larvae are parasitoids of various beetle larvae.

The Tiphiid Flower Wasp (from the family Tiphiidae) pictured here was photographed just over the Canberra border in New South Wales.

Male Flower Wasp (family Tiphiidae), ACT/NSW © Amie Lording
Male Flower Wasp (family Tiphiidae), ACT/NSW © Amie Lording
Male Flower Wasp (family Tiphiidae), ACT/NSW © Amie Lording
Male Flower Wasp (family Tiphiidae), ACT/NSW © Amie Lording
Male Flower Wasp (family Tiphiidae), ACT/NSW © Amie Lording
Male Flower Wasp (family Tiphiidae), ACT/NSW © Amie Lording

The Tiphiidae (Flower Wasps) are highly sexually dimorphic, with the males being fully winged and much larger then the female. The females are wingless and smaller.

The common name of “flower wasps” is because the males are commonly seen feeding on flowers (sometimes with the small wingless females attached to the end of their abdomen in copulation.

Male Flower Wasp (family Tiphiidae), ACT/NSW © Amie Lording
Male Flower Wasp (family Tiphiidae), ACT/NSW © Amie Lording
  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Arthropoda
  • Subphylum: Hexapoda
  • Class: Insecta
  • Informal: Pterygotes
  • Order: Hymenoptera
  • Superfamily: Vespoidea
  • Family: Tiphiidae
  • Subfamily:
    • Anthoboscinae
    • Diamminae
    • Methochinae
    • Myzininae
    • Thynninae

Footnote & References

  1. Photographs Male flower Wasp – Tiphiidae © Amie Lording, Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/amies.macro/
  2. Many thanks for ID to Ken Walker, member of Bee Aware of Your Native Bees (Australia), Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/beeawareofyournativebees
  3. Tiphiidae, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/3c6e3990-1ae8-4fa0-9c40-d3602bf51d0b
  4. Tiphiid Flower Wasps (Family Tiphiidae), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/132105-Tiphiidae
  5. All Flower wasp (Scoliidae or Tiphiidae) sightings, NatureMapr, https://canberra.naturemapr.org/categories/286

TiphiidaePentazeleboria janeta Tiphiid Flower Wasp (family Tiphiidae)

WaspsWasps Index Australian Large Wasps Australian Mud Nest Wasps Mud Wasp Velvet Ants Abispa ephippium Acarozumia amaliae Aulacidae Australodynerus Bembix Bembicinae Blue Hairy Flower Wasp Braconidae Chrysididae Cryptocheilus bicolor (Orange Spider Wasp) Delta latreillei (Potter Wasp) Eumeninae Ferreola handschini (Orange-collared Spider Wasp) Flower Wasps Gasteruptiid Wasp Hairy Flower Wasps Isodontia (Grass-carrying Wasp) Lissopimpla excelsa (Orchid Dupe Wasp) Mutillidae Paralastor sp. Pseudabispa bicolor ssp. nigrocinctoides Radumeris radula (Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp) Radumeris tasmaniensis (Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp) Sceliphron laetum Thynnid Wasps Tiphiidae Yellow and Black Wasp

InsectsBees Beetles Blattodea Butterflies Coleoptera Cicada Crabronidae Diptera Dragonflies & Damselflies Formicidae Hemiptera Heteroptera (True Bugs) Mango Planthopper Moths Orthoptera Orthopteroid Processionary Caterpillar Stink Bugs, Shield Bugs and Allies Syrphidae Wasps Water Scorpion (Laccotrephes tristis) Witchetty Grub