Apoidea

The superfamily Apoidea is a major group (of over 30 000 species) within the Hymenoptera, which includes two traditionally recognized lineages, the "sphecoid" wasps, and the bees. Molecular phylogeny demonstrates that the bees arose from within the traditional "Crabronidae", so that grouping is paraphyletic, and this has led to a reclassification to produce monophyletic families.

Spheciformes is an obsolete paraphyletic assemblage of insect families which collectively comprise the "sphecoid wasps", and includes about 10,000 species and several hundred genera. The largest genus is Cerceris (Philanthidae), with almost 900 species. Larvae are carnivorous, consuming prey captured by adult females and typically paralyzed with venom, provisioned in underground nests.

Pemphredonidae is a family of aphid wasps formerly treated as the subfamily Pemphredoninae. There are 19 genera and 556 described species in the family.

Philanthidae is one of the largest families of wasp in the superfamily Apoidea, with 1167 species in 8 genera. Most of the species (more than 870) are in the genus Cerceris.

Astatidae is a cosmopolitan family of solitary wasps, peculiar for their males having very large compound eyes that broadly meet at the top of the head. The largest genus in this family is Astata, with about half of more than 160 species in the family.

group of wasps known by one particular common name

Psenidae is a family of aphid wasps in the superfamily Apoidea formerly treated as the tribe Psenini. There are 12 genera and at least 485 described species of Psenidae. thumb|Psen erythropoda

Angarosphecidae is an extinct family of Mesozoic and early Cenozoic wasps in the superfamily Apoidea.

Mellinidae is a small family of wasps, comprising 17 described species in two genera. These wasps are found in the Nearctic, Neotropical, Indomalayan and Palaearctic realms. This group has traditionally been treated as a subfamily within Crabronidae (Mellininae), but recent phylogenomic studies have shown it to be a distinct family.