• ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    15 hours ago

    If I am understanding the chart here correctly, bees are not a type of wasp. Bees, wasps, ants, and sawflies are all Hymenopterans, but distinct from each other.

    • redjard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      12 hours ago

      That graph does contain bees among wasps.

      To be specific, bees are a “Cladistically included but traditionally excluded taxa” of wasps, since they are within Apocrita.

      The common-language definition of wasp is literally “A member of Apocrita … except bees (and ants)”.
      It’s the same situation as saying a chicken is a dinosaur, and why the field often uses “non-avian dinosaurs” instead for clarity.

      This wikipedia diagram from the Aculeata article is a bit more concise:

      Take now for example Stephanoidea, “a superfamily of parasitic wasps within the Apocrita”. Clearly wasps, yet equally closely related to yellow-jackets and honey-bees.

      Edit: mixed up Aculeata and Aulacidae. Edit2:

      If you go further into Apoidae, even there you still find plenty more “clearly wasp” type species:

      Take Sphecidae:

      Or Philanthidae:

      All on the same level as actual bees (Anthophila).

      I think also in terms of vibes it feels right to call bees a subset of wasps.