Scolia hirta
| Scolia hirta | |
|---|---|
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| Scolia hirta male | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Hexapoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Scoliidae |
| Genus: | Scolia |
| Species: | S. hirta |
| Binomial name | |
| Scolia hirta (Schrank, 1781) | |
Scolia hirta is a species belonging to the family Scoliidae subfamily Scoliinae.
It is present in most of mediterranean and central Europe, in East Palearctic ecozone, in the Near East and in North Africa.
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. Males have longer antennae than females, as well as three large spines at the tip of their abdomen.
They can be encountered from July through September feeding on flowers, with a preference for flowers appearing cyan or blue to bees eyes and for composite flowers or aggregated inflorescences.
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.
Subspecies
- Scolia hirta subsp. hirta (Schrank, 1781)
- Scolia hirta subsp. unifasciata Cyrillo, 1787
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Scolia hirta hirta
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Scolia hirta unifasciata
References
- 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)