Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Scolia dubia

Scoliid Wasp - Scolia dubia - male Wasp - Scolia dubia WASP? - Scolia dubia Blue-winged Wasp - Scolia dubia Male, Mutillidae? - Scolia dubia - female Unknown wasp or bee - Scolia dubia Unknown wasp or bee - Scolia dubia Hymenoptera ID - Scolia dubia
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
Superfamily Scolioidea
Family Scoliidae (Scoliid Wasps)
Subfamily Scoliinae
Genus Scolia
Species dubia (Scolia dubia)
Other Common Names
Blue-winged Wasp (note: this applies to many unrelated species as well), Blue-winged Scoliid Wasp, Blue-winged Digger Wasp
Explanation of Names
Scolia dubia Say 1837
dubia = 'doubtful'
Size
20-25 mm
Identification
Black with reddish orange abdomen. The nominate subspecies has two large yellow spots while the subspecies haematodes lacks these spots. Males have longer antennae than females, and a pronglike pseudostinger.

The larva is a hairless, legless white grub with a brown head, no eyes, one-segmented antennae, maxillary and labial palpi, and a slit-like silk gland on the labium.
Range
much of the US except the northwest (map) - Discoverlife
Range from the St. Laurence River down to Florida, and west to Arizona
Season
mostly Aug-Oct (BG data)
Food
Adults take nectar, may also feed on juices from beetle prey. Larvae are parasites of scarab beetles, mainly June beetles and also the introduced 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 Cotinis and Popillia japonica. 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 3-pronged "pseudostinger," a part of copulatory gear
Internet References
Scolia dubia - NCSU