Scoliidae, the scoliid wasp

Wasp

The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...

s, is a small family represented by 6 genera and about 20 species in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, but they occur worldwide, with a total of around 300 species. They tend to be black, often marked with yellow or orange, and their wing tips are distinctively corrugated. Males are more slender and elongate than females, with longer antennae, but the sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...

 is not as extreme as is common in the Tiphiidae

Tiphiidae

Tiphiidae is a family of large solitary wasps whose larvae are almost universally parasitoids of various beetle larvae, especially those in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea....

, a closely related family.

Scoliid wasp larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e act as important biocontrol

BioControl

BioControl is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media covering all aspects of basic and applied research in biological control of invertebrate, vertebrate, and weed pests, and plant diseases. The journal was established in 1956 as Entomophaga and published by...

 agents, feeding upon beetle

Beetle

Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...

 larvae in the ground, including the serious pest

Pest (animal)

A pest is an animal which is detrimental to humans or human concerns. It is a loosely defined term, often overlapping with the related terms vermin, weeds, parasites and pathogens...

, the Japanese beetle

Japanese beetle

The beetle species Popillia japonica is commonly known as the Japanese beetle. It is about long and wide, with iridescent copper-colored elytra and green thorax and head...

. Adult wasps may be minor pollinator

Pollinator

A pollinator is the biotic agent that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain...

s of many wildflower

Wildflower

A wildflower is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets. The term "wildflower" has been made vague by commercial seedsmen who are interested in selling more flowers or seeds more...

s.

North American species list

• Campsomeriella annulata (Fabricius 1793)
• Campsomeris completa (Rohwer 1927)
• Campsomeris ephippium (Say 1837)
• Campsomeris fulvohirta (Cresson 1865)
• Campsomeris limos (Burmeister 1853)
• Campsomeris pilipes (Saussure 1858)
• Campsomeris plumipes (Drury 1770)
• Campsomeris quadrimaculata (Fabricus 1775)
• Campsomeris tolteca (Saussure 1857)
• Campsomeris trifasciata (Fabricius 1793)
• Crioscolia alcione (Banks 1917)
• Crioscolia flammicoma (Bradley 1928)
• Micromeriella marginella (Klug 1810)
• Scolia bicincta - Double-banded Scoliid (Fabricius 1775)
• Scolia bifasciata (Swederus 1787)
• Scolia consors (Saussure 1863)
• Scolia dubia
  Scolia dubia
  Scolia dubia, also known as the blue-winged wasp, is a long wasp that ranges from New England to Florida and west to the Rocky Mountains in North America. The head, thorax , and first two abdominal segments are black, while the remainder of the abdomen is red with two bright yellow spots on the...
  
   - Blue-winged Wasp (Say 1837)
• Scolia guttata (Burmeister 1853)
• Scolia mexicana (Saussure 1858)
• Scolia nobilitata (Fabricius 1805)
• Trielis octomaculata (Say 1823)
• Trielis pollenifera (Viereck 1906)
• Triscolia ardens (Smith 1855)

Scoliidae are popular with collectors the large Megascolia procer

Megascolia procer

Megascolia procer is a solitary wasp in the family Scoliidae. The species is found in Java and Indonesia....

being an example.

External links

• Scoliid wasps of Florida on the UF
  University of Florida
  The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
  
   / IFAS
  Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
  The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
  
  Featured Creatures Web site