Synopses & Reviews
Howard Evans was a brilliant ethologist and systematist for whom the joy of science included lying on his belly in some remote location, digging out and diagramming a wasp's nest. During his career, Evans described over 900 species and authored more than a dozen books, both technical and popular, on a wide range of entomological and natural history subjects. Upon his death in 2002, he left behind an unfinished manuscript, intended as an update (though not a revision) of his classic 1966 work, The Comparative Ethology and Evolution of the Sand Wasps. Kevin O'Neill, Evans's former student and coauthor, has completed and enlarged Evans's manuscript, to provide coverage of all sand-wasp tribes in Evan's earlier book. The result is a tribe-by-tribe, species by species review of studies of the Bembicinae that have appeared over the last four decades. The Sand Wasps: Natural History and Behavior already has been hailed by specialists as a new bible for those working on solitary wasps and an essential reference for scientists more broadly interested in insect behavioral evolution.
Review
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 < i=""> The Wisdom of the Hive: The Social Physiology of Honey Bee Colonies <>
Review
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. Joseph R. Coelho
Synopsis
Howard Evans was a brilliant ethologist and systematist, describing over 900 species in over a dozen entomology and natural history books. Upon his death in 2002, he left behind an unfinished manuscript, intended as an update of his classic 1966 work, The Comparative Ethology and Evolution of the Sand Wasps. O'Neill, Evans's former student and coauthor, has completed and enlarged this work into a tribe-by-tribe, species-by-species review of Bembicinae studies from the last four decades.
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.
Montana State University
Table of Contents
Foreword by Mary Alice Evans
Preface
1. Introduction
A Sand Wasp Sojourn
Sand Wasp Natural History¹/¹Sand 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