Other Common Names
Digger Wasp, Blue-winged Wasp
Identification
Black with orange abdomen, two large yellow spots.
The larva is a legless, white grub with a brown head. It appears hairless and has no eyes. The antennae, maxillary and labial palps are one-segmented. There is a slit-like silk gland on the labium.
Males have longer antennae than females, and a pronglike pseudostinger on the abdomen.
Range
Massachusetts to Florida, west to Colorado, Arizona, California.
Season
Summer, early fall. June-October (North Carolina).
Food
Adults take nectar, may also feed on juices from beetle prey.
Larvae a parasite of the green June beetle and Japanese beetle.
Life Cycle
Males and females have a courtship dance, flying close to the ground in a figure-8 or S pattern. Females burrow into ground in search of grubs, especially those of the Green June Beetle, Cotinis, and the Japanese Beetle. She stings it and often burrows farther down, then constructs a cell and lays an egg on the host. Larva pupates and overwinters in a cocoon within the body of the host. One generation per year in North, more in South.
Remarks
Males have a three pronged "pseudostinger," which is part of their external genitalia.
Print References
Swan and Papp, p. 548, fig. 1192
(1)
Milne, p. 820, fig. 457
(2)
Salsbury, p. 266--photo
(3)
Borror and White, p. 343, have an illustration of what is apparently this species.
(4)
Arnett, p. 580, describes, gives distribution.
(6)Internet References
North Carolina State University Gives a common name as "blue-winged wasp", describes life history.
Univ. Florida--Entomology 3005, family description, with photo of S. dubia.
