Wasps of the genus Sphex (commonly known as digger wasps) are cosmopolitanpredators that sting and paralyze prey insects. Sphex is one of many genera in the old digger wasp family Sphecidae (sensu lato), though most apart from the Sphecinae have now been moved to the family Crabronidae.[1] There are over 130 known Sphex species.
In preparation for egg laying, they construct a protected "nest" (some species dig nests in the ground, while others use pre-existing holes) and then stock it with captured insects. Typically, the prey are left alive, but paralyzed by wasp toxins. The wasps lay their eggs in the provisioned nest and the wasp larvae feed on the paralyzed insects as they develop.
The great golden digger wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) is found in North America. The developing wasps spend the winter in their nest. When the new generation of adults emerge, they contain the genetically programmed behaviors required to carry out another season of nest building. During the summer, a female might build as many as six nests, each with several compartments for her eggs. The building and provisioning of the nests takes place in a stereotypical, step-by-step fashion.
Sphex has been shown, as in some Jean Henri Fabre studies,[2] not to count how many crickets it collects for its nest. Although the wasp instinctively searches for four crickets, it cannot take into account a lost cricket, whether the cricket has been lost to ants or flies or simply been misplaced. Sphex drags its cricket prey towards its burrow by the antennae; if the antennae of the cricket are cut off, the wasp would not think to continue to pull its prey by a leg.
Some Sphex wasps drop a paralyzed insect near the opening of the nest. Before taking provisions into the nest, the Sphex first inspects the nest, leaving the prey outside. During the inspection, an experimenter can move the prey a few inches away from the opening. When the Sphex emerges from the nest ready to drag in the prey, it finds the prey missing. The Sphex quickly locates the moved prey, but now its behavioral "program" has been reset. After dragging the prey back to the opening of the nest, once again the Sphex is compelled to inspect the nest, so the prey is again dropped and left outside during another stereotypical inspection of the nest. This iteration can be repeated several times without the Sphex changing its sequence; by some accounts, endlessly. Dennett's argument quotes an account of Sphex behavior from Dean Wooldridge's Machinery of the Brain (1963).[6]Douglas Hofstadter[7] and Daniel Dennett[8] have used this mechanistic behavior as an example of how seemingly thoughtful behavior can actually be quite mindless, the opposite of free will (or, as Dennett described it, sphexishness).
Philosopher Fred Keijzer challenges this use of Sphex, citing experiments in which behavioral adaptations are observed after many iterations. Keijzer sees the persistence of the Sphex example in cognitive theory as an indication of its rhetorical usefulness, not its factual accuracy.[9] Of course, the repeated inspection of a disturbed nest may very well be an adaptive behavior, thus diminishing the aptness of Hofstadter's metaphor. As he concludes, "There is no reason for humans to remain stuck in an endless behavioral loop when wasps don’t."[10]
^Pulawski, Wojciech J. (25 April 2021) [2014]. "Family Group Names and Classification: and taxa excluded from Sphecidae sensu lato" (PDF). California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
^Fabre, J.H. (1915/2001). The hunting wasps. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company.
^Tinbergen, N. (1974). Curious naturalists (2nd Ed). Harmondsworth: Penguin.
^Dawkins, Richard; Brockmann, H. Jane (1980). "Do Digger Wasps Commit the Concorde Fallacy?" (PDF). Animal Behaviour. 28: 892–896. doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(80)80149-7. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
^Dennett, Daniel (1973). "Mechanism and responsibility". In T. Honderich (Ed.), Essays on freedom of action. London: Routledge.
^Dean Wooldridge (1963). The Machinery of the Brain. McGraw-Hill
^Hofstadter, Douglas (1985). "On the seeming paradox of mechanizing creativity". In Metamagical themas. Penguin. pp. 526–546.
^Dennett, Daniel (1973). "Mechanism and responsibility". In T. Honderich (Ed.), Essays on freedom of action. London: Routledge.
^Keijzer, Fred. "The Sphex story: How the cognitive sciences kept repeating an old and questionable anecdote" (PDF). Retrieved 19 July 2015.
Look up Sphex, sphexish, or sphexishness in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Great golden digger wasp Sphex ichneumoneus - large format diagnostic photographs, wasp with katydid prey
Online Identification Guide to eastern North American Sphex
January 14, 2023
sphex, wasps, genus, commonly, known, digger, wasps, cosmopolitan, predators, that, sting, paralyze, prey, insects, many, genera, digger, wasp, family, sphecidae, sensu, lato, though, most, apart, from, sphecinae, have, been, moved, family, crabronidae, there,. Wasps of the genus Sphex commonly known as digger wasps are cosmopolitan predators that sting and paralyze prey insects Sphex is one of many genera in the old digger wasp family Sphecidae sensu lato though most apart from the Sphecinae have now been moved to the family Crabronidae 1 There are over 130 known Sphex species SphexSphex pensylvanicus on a katydidScientific classificationKingdom AnimaliaPhylum ArthropodaClass InsectaOrder HymenopteraSuborder ApocritaSuperfamily ApoideaFamily SphecidaeSubfamily SphecinaeGenus SphexLinnaeus 1758Type speciesSphex flavipennisFabricius 1793SpeciesMore than 130 see text Contents 1 Behaviour 2 Use in philosophy 3 Species 3 1 Fossil Species 4 References 5 External linksBehaviour EditIn preparation for egg laying they construct a protected nest some species dig nests in the ground while others use pre existing holes and then stock it with captured insects Typically the prey are left alive but paralyzed by wasp toxins The wasps lay their eggs in the provisioned nest and the wasp larvae feed on the paralyzed insects as they develop The great golden digger wasp Sphex ichneumoneus is found in North America The developing wasps spend the winter in their nest When the new generation of adults emerge they contain the genetically programmed behaviors required to carry out another season of nest building During the summer a female might build as many as six nests each with several compartments for her eggs The building and provisioning of the nests takes place in a stereotypical step by step fashion Sphex has been shown as in some Jean Henri Fabre studies 2 not to count how many crickets it collects for its nest Although the wasp instinctively searches for four crickets it cannot take into account a lost cricket whether the cricket has been lost to ants or flies or simply been misplaced Sphex drags its cricket prey towards its burrow by the antennae if the antennae of the cricket are cut off the wasp would not think to continue to pull its prey by a leg The navigation abilities of Sphex were studied by the ethologist Niko Tinbergen 3 Richard Dawkins and Jane Brockmann later studied female rivalry over nesting holes in Sphex ichneumoneus 4 Use in philosophy EditSome writers in the philosophy of mind most notably Daniel Dennett have cited Sphex s behavior for their arguments about human and animal free will 5 Some Sphex wasps drop a paralyzed insect near the opening of the nest Before taking provisions into the nest the Sphex first inspects the nest leaving the prey outside During the inspection an experimenter can move the prey a few inches away from the opening When the Sphex emerges from the nest ready to drag in the prey it finds the prey missing The Sphex quickly locates the moved prey but now its behavioral program has been reset After dragging the prey back to the opening of the nest once again the Sphex is compelled to inspect the nest so the prey is again dropped and left outside during another stereotypical inspection of the nest This iteration can be repeated several times without the Sphex changing its sequence by some accounts endlessly Dennett s argument quotes an account of Sphex behavior from Dean Wooldridge s Machinery of the Brain 1963 6 Douglas Hofstadter 7 and Daniel Dennett 8 have used this mechanistic behavior as an example of how seemingly thoughtful behavior can actually be quite mindless the opposite of free will or as Dennett described it sphexishness Philosopher Fred Keijzer challenges this use of Sphex citing experiments in which behavioral adaptations are observed after many iterations Keijzer sees the persistence of the Sphex example in cognitive theory as an indication of its rhetorical usefulness not its factual accuracy 9 Of course the repeated inspection of a disturbed nest may very well be an adaptive behavior thus diminishing the aptness of Hofstadter s metaphor As he concludes There is no reason for humans to remain stuck in an endless behavioral loop when wasps don t 10 Species Edit Sphex argentatus source source source source source source source source source source Sphex funerarius with prey The genus Sphex contains 132 extant species 11 Sphex abyssinicus Arnold 1928 Sphex afer Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau 1845 Sphex ahasverus Kohl 1890 Sphex alacer Kohl 1895 Sphex antennatus F Smith 1856 Sphex argentatissimus Dorfel and Ohl 2015 Sphex argentatus Fabricius 1787 Sphex argentinus Taschenberg 1869 Sphex ashmeadi Fernald 1906 Sphex atropilosus Kohl 1885 Sphex basilicus R Turner 1915 Sphex bilobatus Kohl 1895 Sphex bohemanni Dahlbom 1845 Sphex brachystomus Kohl 1890 Sphex brasilianus Saussure 1867 Sphex brevipetiolatus Dorfel and Ohl 2015 Sphex caelebs Dorfel and Ohl 2015 Sphex caeruleanus Drury 1773 Sphex caliginosus Erichson 1849 Sphex camposi Campos 1922 Sphex carbonicolor Van der Vecht 1973 Sphex castaneipes Dahlbom 1843 Sphex cognatus F Smith 1856 Sphex confrater Kohl 1890 Sphex corporosus Dorfel and Ohl 2015 Sphex cristi Genaro in Genaro amp Juarrero 2000 Sphex cubensis Fernald 1906 Sphex darwinensis R Turner 1912 Sphex decipiens Kohl 1895 Sphex decoratus F Smith 1873 Sphex deplanatus Kohl 1895 Sphex diabolicus F Smith 1858 Sphex dorsalis Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau 1845 Sphex dorycus Guerin Meneville 1838 Sphex ephippium F Smith 1856 Sphex ermineus Kohl 1890 Sphex erythrinus Guiglia 1939 Sphex ferrugineipes W Fox 1897 Sphex finschii Kohl 1890 Sphex flammeus Dorfel and Ohl 2015 Sphex flavipennis Fabricius 1793 Sphex flavovestitus F Smith 1856 Sphex formosellus Van der Vecht 1957 Sphex fortunatus Dorfel and Ohl 2015 Sphex fumicatus Christ 1791 Sphex fumipennis F Smith 1856 Sphex funerarius Gussakovskij 1934 Golden Digger Wasp Sphex gaullei Berland 1927 Sphex gilberti R Turner 1908 Sphex gracilis Dorfel and Ohl 2015 Sphex gisteli Strand 1916 Sphex guatemalensis Cameron 1888 Sphex habenus Say 1832 Sphex haemorrhoidalis Fabricius 1781 Sphex ichneumoneus Linnaeus 1758 great golden digger wasp Sphex imporcatus Dorfel and Ohl 2015 Sphex incomptus Gerstaecker 1871 Sphex ingens F Smith 1856 Sphex inusitatus Yasumatsu 1935 Sphex jamaicensis Drury 1773 Sphex jansei Cameron 1910 Sphex jucundus Dorfel and Ohl 2015 Sphex kolthoffi Gussakovskij 1938 Sphex lanatus Mocsary 1883 Sphex latilobus Dorfel and Ohl 2015 Sphex latreillei Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau 1831 Sphex latro Erichson 1849 Sphex leuconotus Brulle 1833 Sphex libycus Beaumont 1956 Sphex lucae Saussure 1867 Sphex luctuosus F Smith 1856 Sphex madasummae Van der Vecht 1973 Sphex malagassus Saussure 1890 Sphex mandibularis Cresson 1869 Sphex maroccanus Schmid Egger 2019 Sphex maximiliani Kohl 1890 Sphex melanocnemis Kohl 1885 Sphex melanopus Dahlbom 1843 Sphex melas Gussakovskij 1930 Sphex mendozanus Brethes 1909 Sphex mimulus R Turner 1910 Sphex mochii Giordani Soika 1942 Sphex modestus F Smith 1856 Sphex muticus Kohl 1885 Sphex neavei Arnold 1928 Sphex neoumbrosus Jha amp Farooqui 1996 Sphex nigrohirtus Kohl 1895 Sphex nitidiventris Spinola 1851 Sphex nudus Fernald 1903 Katydid Wasp Sphex observabilis R Turner 1918 Sphex opacus Dahlbom 1845 Sphex optimus F Smith 1856 Sphex oxianus Gussakovskij 1928 Sphex paulinierii Guerin Meneville 1843 Sphex pensylvanicus Linnaeus 1763 great black wasp Sphex permagnus Willink 1951 Sphex peruanus Kohl 1890 Sphex praedator F Smith 1858 Sphex pretiosus Dorfel and Ohl 2015 Sphex prosper Kohl 1890 Sphex pruinosus Germar 1817 Sphex resinipes Fernald 1906 Sphex resplendens Kohl 1885 Sphex rex Hensen 1991 Sphex rhodosoma R Turner 1915 Sphex rufinervis Perez 1985 Sphex rufiscutis R Turner 1918 Sphex rugifer Kohl 1890 Sphex satanas Kohl 1898 Sphex schlaeflei Schmid Egger 2019 Sphex schoutedeni Kohl 1913 Sphex schrottkyi Bertoni 1918 Sphex semifossulatus Van der Vecht 1973 Sphex sericeus Fabricius 1804 Sphex servillei Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau 1845 Sphex solomon Hensen 1991 Sphex stadelmanni Kohl 1895 Sphex staudingeri Gribodo 1894 Sphex subhyalinus W Fox 1899 Sphex subtruncatus Dahlbom 1843 Sphex tanoi Tsuneki 1974 Sphex taschenbergi Magretti 1884 Sphex tepanecus Saussure 1867 Sphex texanus Cresson 1873 Sphex tinctipennis Cameron 1888 Sphex tomentosus Fabricius 1787 Sphex torridus F Smith 1873 Sphex vestitus F Smith 1856 Sphex walshae Hensen 1991 Sphex wilsoni Hensen 1991 Sphex zubaidiyacus Augul 2013 Fossil Species Edit Sphex bischoffi Zeuner 1931 Sphex giganteus Heer 1867 Sphex obscurus Statz 1936References Edit Pulawski Wojciech J 25 April 2021 2014 Family Group Names and Classification and taxa excluded from Sphecidae sensu lato PDF California Academy of Sciences Retrieved 14 January 2022 Fabre J H 1915 2001 The hunting wasps New York Dodd Mead and Company Tinbergen N 1974 Curious naturalists 2nd Ed Harmondsworth Penguin Dawkins Richard Brockmann H Jane 1980 Do Digger Wasps Commit the Concorde Fallacy PDF Animal Behaviour 28 892 896 doi 10 1016 s0003 3472 80 80149 7 Retrieved 19 July 2015 Dennett Daniel 1973 Mechanism and responsibility In T Honderich Ed Essays on freedom of action London Routledge Dean Wooldridge 1963 The Machinery of the Brain McGraw Hill Hofstadter Douglas 1985 On the seeming paradox of mechanizing creativity In Metamagical themas Penguin pp 526 546 Dennett Daniel 1973 Mechanism and responsibility In T Honderich Ed Essays on freedom of action London Routledge Keijzer Fred The Sphex story How the cognitive sciences kept repeating an old and questionable anecdote PDF Retrieved 19 July 2015 ibid Pulawski Wojciech 11 October 2021 Sphex PDF California Academy of Sciences a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link External links Edit Look up Sphex sphexish or sphexishness in Wiktionary the free dictionary Great golden digger wasp Sphex ichneumoneus large format diagnostic photographs wasp with katydid prey Online Identification Guide to eastern North American Sphex Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sphex amp oldid 1132961748, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
