Scolia hirta is a species of wasp in the subfamily Scoliinae of the family Scoliidae.
| Scolia hirta | |
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| Male | |
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| Female | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Scoliidae |
| Genus: | Scolia |
| Species: | S. hirta
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| Binomial name | |
| Scolia hirta (Schrank, 1781)
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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Distribution
editThis 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
editThe 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, which had two or three yellow spots instead of two yellow stripes.[3]
Biology
editThey 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
editThe following two subspecies are described:[7]
- Scolia hirta hirta (Schrank, 1781)
- Scolia hirta unifasciata Cyrillo, 1787 (in Corsica, Sicily and Malta) [8]
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S. h. hirta
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References
edit
- ^ a b "Scolia hirta (Schrank, 1781) Schran…". GBIF.org. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
- ^ Fauna europaea
- ^ a b c d Filip Trnka Natura bohemica
- ^ 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)
- ^ La scolie hirsute (Scolia hirta)
- ^ Teppner VH, Scolia hirta (Hymenoptera-Scoliidae) neu für die Steiermark, in Mitteilungen des naturwissenschaftlichen Vereines für Steiermark Bd. 138 S. 5–8 Graz 2008
- ^ Biolib
- ^ S. h. unifasciata in Fauna europaea