Species
This list of species is probably complete as of March 31, 2009. It has been adapted from the Catalog of Sphecius species (California Academy of Sciences). Notable subspecies are also given.
More recently, it has been suspected that the Western cicada killer (S. grandis) represents more than one species. There is also evidence to suggest that either the Eastern cicada killer (S. speciosus) has a subspecies or closely related species that mimics the Pacific cicada killer (S. convallis). Alternatively, when they were already well distinct species, significant hybridization has occurred between them, though not enough to fully overcome their reproductive isolation.
- Sphecius antennatus (Southern and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Central Asia)
- Sphecius citrinus (South Africa)
- Sphecius claripennis (North Africa)
- Sphecius conicus (Balkans, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Greece)
- Sphecius conicus creticus (Crete)
- Sphecius conicus syriacus (Syria to China)
- Sphecius convallis – Pacific cicada killer (Mexico: Baja California, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora; USA: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington)
- Sphecius grandidieri (Madagascar)
- Sphecius grandis – Western cicada killer (Costa Rica; Mexico: Baja California, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Yucatán; Nicaragua; USA: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington)
- Sphecius hemixanthopterus (Algeria)
- Sphecius hogardii – Caribbean cicada killer (Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, USA: southern Florida)
- Sphecius hogardii bahamas (Bahama Islands: Bimini)
- Sphecius intermedius (Algeria)
- Sphecius lutescens (Central Asia)
- Sphecius malayanus (Indonesia: Timor, Sumbava)
- Sphecius milleri (Zambia)
- Sphecius milleri aurantiacus (Ethiopia)
- Sphecius nigricornis (Southern and Eastern Europe, North Africa)
- Sphecius pectoralis (Australia)
- Sphecius persa (Iran, Afghanistan)
- Sphecius quartinae (Guinea, Somalia)
- Sphecius schulthessi (North Africa)
- Sphecius speciosus – Eastern cicada killer (Central and North America: Honduras to Ontario, Canada)
- Sphecius spectabilis – South American cicada killer (Brazil, Argentina)
- Sphecius uljanini (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran)
Read more about this topic: Sphecius
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