Behavior notes and prey spectrum of three species of the bee-hunting wasp Trachypus Klug (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)

Trachypus Klug is a Neotropical genus of crabronid wasps comprising 31 ground-nesting species. Its species can be solitary or communal, and two diet ranges are known: they forage on several bee subfamilies wasps; specialists stingless bees. Natural history observations scarce nowadays but essential to contextualize ecological evolutionary studies. Here we report new records give biological notes for elongatus (Fabricius, 1804), taschenbergi Rubio-Espina, 1975, varius (Taschenberg, 1875). Observations samplings were carried out twice month, during one year in the city Curitiba, southern Brazil. Besides field observations, circular statistics used analyze seasonality. All nest sloped soil solitary. T. active most with marked seasonality late spring early summer. Both observed hunting only bees, specialized Trigona spinipes 1793), Paratrigona subnuda Moure, 1947 drones. was January female recorded foraging worker. Our provide additional data understanding biology bee-hunting wasps, this first study bring information varius. corroborate that some