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11. SPHECIDAE (Thread waisted wasp, Digger wasp, Mud dauber)
Lateral extensions of the pronotum form rounded lobes
Petiole is slender.
Nests are constructed by using mud or dug out in ground. They use insects and spiders to
provision their nests. Eggs are laid on the paralysed or killed host.
12. FORMICIDAE (Ants)
They are common widespread insects.
Antennae are geniculate.
Mandibles are well developed.
Wings are present only in sexually mature forms.
Petiole may have one or two spines.
They are social insects with three castes viz., queen, males and workers. Workers are
sterile females and they form the bulk of the colony. Exchange of food materials between
adults and immature insects is common. After a mating flight queen alone finds a suitable
nesting site. Wings break near the abscission suture near the base are nipped off by
mandibles. Egg laying is started after divesting the wings. Usually the queen does not
forage for food. During the initial phase of nest building it lives entirely on fat body
reserves and products of wing muscle degeneration.
Many species have established symbiotic relationship with homopteran insects.
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