The Crabronidae are a large paraphyletic group (nominally a family) of wasps, including nearly all of the species formerly comprising the now-defunct superfamily Sphecoidea. It collectively includes well over 200 genera, containing well over 9000 species. Crabronids were originally a part of the Sphecidae, but the latter name is now restricted to a separate family based on what was once the subfamily Sphecinae. Several of the subfamilies of the Crabronidae are often treated as families in their own right, as is true of the most recent phylogenies (example below).
This phylogenetic tree is based on Sann et al., 2018, which used phylogenomics to demonstrate that both the bees (Anthophila) and the Sphecidae arose from within the former Crabronidae, which is therefore paraphyletic, and which they suggested should be split into several families; the former family Heterogynaidae nests within the Bembicidae, as here defined.[1] These findings differ in several details from studies published by two other sets of authors in 2017, though all three studies demonstrate a paraphyletic "Crabronidae."[2][3] Only three of these lineages were not included within Crabronidae in the past: Ampulicidae, Sphecidae, and Anthophila.
ApoideaAnthophila (bees)
Trypoxylon collinum larva
Trypoxylon collinum pupa
Trypoxylon collinum adult
Astata sp. male Cerceris sp. male 
Sand wasp in its habitat, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania The Crabronidae are a large paraphyletic group (nominally a family) of wasps, including nearly all of the species formerly comprising the now-defunct superfamily Sphecoidea. It collectively includes well over 200 genera, containing well over 9000 species. Crabronids were originally a part of the Sphecidae, but the latter name is now restricted to a separate family based on what was once the subfamily Sphecinae. Several of the subfamilies of the Crabronidae are often treated as families in their own right, as is true of the most recent phylogenies (example below).
