Pluto is a genus of aphid wasps

Pluto is a genus of aphid wasps in the family Crabronidae. There are at least 50 described species in Pluto.

• “Pluto“. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
• “Pluto“. Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
• “Pluto“. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 10 April 2021.

The subfamily Pemphredoninae also known as the aphid wasps, is a large group in the wasp family Crabronidae, with over 1000 species. Historically, this subfamily has frequently been accorded family status. In some recent phylogenetic analyses, one of the subtribes within this group is the sister lineage to the superfamily Apoidea, and accorded family rank as Ammoplanidae along with Pemphredonidae and Psenidae so as to keep families monophyletic.

• “Subfamily Pemphredoninae – Aphid Wasps”, accessed 14 January 2009
• Manuela Sann, Oliver Niehuis, Ralph S. Peters, Christoph Mayer, Alexey Kozlov, Lars Podsiadlowski, Sarah Bank, Karen Meusemann, Bernhard Misof, Christoph Bleidorn, and Michael Ohl (2018) Phylogenomic analysis of Apoidea sheds new light on the sister group of bees. BMC Evolutionary Biology 18:71. doi:10.1186/s12862-018-1155-8

The subfamily consists of solitary wasps, each genus having its own distinct and consistent prey preferences. The adult females dig tunnels in the ground, or plant material, for nesting.

• Sharp, David (1901) “Insects Part II: Chapter III: Hymenoptera Aculeata continued: Family Sphegidae-Crabronides: Sub-Fam. 9. Mimesides.” in Harmer, S. F. and Shipley, A. E. (eds.) (1901) The Cambridge Natural History Macmillan and Co., London, p. 128 OCLC 559687

As with all other sphecoid wasps, the larvae are carnivorous; females hunt for prey on which to lay their eggs, mass provisioning the nest cells with paralyzed, living prey that the larvae feed upon after hatching from the egg.

Further reading

• Arnett, Ross H. Jr. (2000). American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico (2nd ed.). CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-0212-9.
• Krombein, Karl V.; Hurd Jr., Paul D. Jr.; Smith, David R.; Burks, B.D., eds. (1979). “Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico”. Smithsonian Institution Press. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
• Bohart, R. M. and Menke, A. S. (1976) Sphecid Wasps of the World: a Generic Revision University of California Press, Berkeley, California, ISBN 0-520-02318-8 Google books
• Simon-Thomas, R. T. and Bohart, R. M. (1998) A recapitulation of errata and omissions to Sphecid wasps of the world, a generic revision, by R.M. Bohart & A.S. Menke Instituut voor Systematiek en Populatiebiologie, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, OCLC 39684725