Examining a Species Complex of North American Auplopus (Pompilidae)

Auplopus Spinola, 1841 (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) has a cosmopolitan distribution and is in need of revision on that scale.  North American species were last been treated taxonomically by Townes in 1957.  There are ten recognized species present in America North of Mexico with eight recognized subspecies.  Species delimitation for the architectus-nigrellus-caerulescens species group are a grey area and are considered to be often inseparable based on the key by Townes.  Using mitochondrial and nuclear molecular markers, species boundaries are explored and more extensive morphological comparisons examined.