Leg-amputation
Guides
Ageniellini
Mud-nesting Spider Wasps
Ageniellini is a cosmopolitan tribe of spider wasps (subfamily Pepsinae) comprising 17 genera. Members are commonly known as mud-nesting spider wasps due to their frequent construction of thimble-shaped mud nests, often communally. The tribe exhibits exceptional behavioral diversity, with three distinct nesting strategies: mud nest construction, dry soil excavation, and kleptoparasitic nest usurpation. These strategies have evolved independently multiple times from nest-constructing ancestors. Like all Pompilidae, females provision nests with paralyzed spiders as larval food, with most Ageniellini species characteristically removing spider legs before transport.