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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Scolioidea » Scoliid Wasps (Scoliidae)

Family Scoliidae - Scoliid Wasps

Classification · Other Common Names · Pronunciation · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Print References · Works Cited
Which wasp? - Dielis pilipes - female yellow-spotted wasp - Scolia guttata - female Can someone ID this for me? - Dielis plumipes - male Trielis octomaculata ? - Colpa octomaculata - male Campsomeris sp - Dielis pilipes - female Wasp - Scolia bicincta - male Unidentified insect 0707202002 - Dielis plumipes - female Double-banded Scoliid Wasp - Scolia bicincta
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)
Other Common Names
Mammoth Wasps, Scarab Hawks, Scarab Hunters, Scarab Wasps
Pronunciation
sco-LEE-ih-dee
Explanation of Names
Scoliidae Latreille 1802
See Scolia
Numbers
22 spp. (and 11 sspp.) in 7 genera* in our area;(1)(2)(3) 560 spp. in >140 genera total(4)
____________
*Not counting Campsomeriella annulata and Micromeriella marginella modesta introduced to control the Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica), neither of which became established.
Size
10‒50 mm, extralimital spp. up to ~75 mm
Identification
Mesosternum and metasternum divided by a transverse suture, metacoxae well-separated
Key to nearctic genera(5) (taxonomy obsolete)

Family Scoliidae
Subfamily Scoliinae
Tribe Scoliini - forewing with 1 recurrent vein
Genus Scolia - forewing with 2 submarginal cells


Genus Triscolia - forewing with 3 submarginal cells


Tribus incertae sedis (Colpini or Scoliini) - forewing with 2 recurrent veins and 3 submarginal cells
Genus Colpa (including Crioscolia)


Tribe Campsomerini - forewing with 2 recurrent veins and 2 submarginal cells
Genus Dielis - setae of female primarily pale


Genus Pygodasis - setae of female primarily black


Genus Xanthocampsomeris - setae of female reddish on apex of abdomen and often also on the head and thorax
Range
worldwide; in NA, most diverse in the south
Food
Larvae are parasitoids of ground-dwelling scarab grubs; adults take nectar
Life Cycle
Female digs down to the host grub, stings it, and lays an egg on the paralyzed grub(6)
See Also
Male Mutillidae (wings not wrinkled), Tiphiidae, Thynnidae
Print References
(7)(8)(9)
Works Cited
1.Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico
Karl V. Krombein, Paul D. Hurd, Jr., David R. Smith, and B. D. Burks. 1979. Smithsonian Institution Press.
2.Checkliste der Dolchwespen der Welt (Insecta: Hymenoptera, Scoliidae)
von Till Osten. 2005. Bericht der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Augsburg, 62: 1–62.
3.New Dielis species and structural dichotomy of the mitochondrial cox2 gene in Scoliidae wasps
Przemyslaw Szafranski . 2023. Scientific Reports, 13(1): 1-12 .
4.Order Hymenoptera. In: Zhang Z-Q (ed) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classif. and survey of taxonomic richness
Aguiar AP, Deans AR, Engel MS, Forshage M, Huber JT, Jennings JT, Johnson NF, Lelej AS, Longino JT, Lohrmann V, Mikó I, Ohl M. 2013. Zootaxa 3703: 51–62.
5.University of Florida: Featured Creatures
6.Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects
Norman F. Johnson, Charles A. Triplehorn. 2004. Brooks Cole.
7.The Scoliidae of California
Hurd P.D. 1952. Bull. Calif. Insect Survey 1(6): 141-152.
8.Scoliid Wasps of the Southwestern United States
MacKay W.P. 1987. Southwestern Naturalist 32(3): 357-362.
9.Scoliidae (Hymenoptera) of the Lower Río Grande Valley.
Porter, C.C. 1981. The Florida Entomologist 64(3): 441-453.
Contributed by Cotinis on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, Beatriz Moisset, Bbarnd, Mike Quinn, waspGeorge, Aaron Schusteff, v belov, KenW, Marci Hess, PaleoJon
Last updated 1 April, 2024 - 1:37pm

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