Spheciformes

Taxobox


image_caption = "Ampulex" wasp, belonging to Ampulicidae
name = Sphecoid wasps
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Hymenoptera
subordo = Apocrita
superfamilia = Apoidea
series = Spheciformes
subdivision_ranks = Families
subdivision =
Ampulicidae
Crabronidae
Heterogynaidae
Sphecidae

The Spheciformes is a paraphyletic assemblage of insect families which collectively comprise the "sphecoid wasps"; these are all the members of the superfamily Apoidea which are not bees, and in older classifications were called the "Sphecoidea". The group is paraphyletic because the bees are believed to have arisen from a subgroup within the family Crabronidae, thus Spheciformes does not include all of the descendants of its common ancestor.