Scolia hirta

Scolia hirta is a species of wasp in the subfamily Scoliinae of the family Scoliidae .

Scolia hirta
Male
Female
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Scoliidae
Genus: Scolia
Species:
S. hirta
Binomial name
Scolia hirta
(Schrank, 1781)
Synonyms[1]
  • Apis hirta Schrank, 1781

Distribution

This species is present in most of mediterranean and central Europe, in the eastern Palearctic realm, in the Near East, and in North Africa.[1][2]

Description

The adults grow up to 10–25 millimetres (0.39–0.98 in) long, the body is completely black, with two glossy yellow stripes on the abdomen. The wings have a smoky-dark color, with blue reflexes. Antennae of males - composed of 13 segments - are longer than in females (12 segments ). Moreover males have three large spines at the tip of their abdomen.[3]

This species is rather similar to Scolia sexmaculata, that shows two yellow spots, or even three, instead of two yellow stripes.[3]

Biology

They can be encountered from July through September[3] feeding on flowers, with a preference for flowers appearing cyan or blue to bees eyes and for composite flowers or aggregated inflorescences.[4]

Among the most visited families there are Caprifoliaceae (Knautia arvensis), Asteraceae (Jacobaea vulgaris, Solidago canadensis, Solidago virgaurea, Centaurea scabiosa, Echinops spp.), Lamiaceae (Thymus serpyllum, Pycnanthemum spp.), Crassulaceae and Liliaceae. Furthermore they also visit Veronica spicata (Scrophulariaceae), Eryngium planum (Apiaceae), Jasione montana (Campanulaceae).[5][6]

These massive solitary wasps dig in search of larvae of beetles (Cetoniidae species, especially Cetonia aurata, as well as Scarabaeidae species). Then they parasitize the larvae and lay eggs in them for feeding their offspring.[3]

Subspecies

Subspecies include:[7]

  • Scolia hirta subsp. hirta (Schrank, 1781)
  • Scolia hirta subsp. unifasciata Cyrillo, 1787 (in Corsica, Sicily and Malta) [8]
  • Scolia hirta hirta
  • Scolia hirta unifasciata

References
  1. "Scolia hirta (Schrank, 1781) Schran…". GBIF.org. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  2. Fauna europaea
  3. Filip Trnka Natura bohemica
  4. Ingmar Landeck - Feeding plant spectrum of the hairy flower wasp Scolia hirta in Lusatia (Central Europe) with special focus on flower colour, morphology of flowers and inflorescences (Hymenoptera: Scoliidae) - Entomologia generalis 2002, vol. 26, no2, pp. 107–120 - Schweizerbart, Stuttgart (1978) (Revue)
  5. La scolie hirsute (Scolia hirta)
  6. Teppner VH, Scolia hirta (Hymenoptera-Scoliidae) neu für die Steiermark, in Mitteilungen des naturwissenschaftlichen Vereines für Steiermark Bd. 138 S. 5–8 Graz 2008
  7. Biolib
  8. S. h. unifasciata in Fauna europaea
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