Scoliidae

Template:Short description Template:Automatic taxobox The Scoliidae, the scoliid wasps, are a family of wasps comprising about 560 species worldwide. They tend to be black, often marked with yellow or orange, and their wing tips are distinctively corrugated. Males are more slender and elongated than females, with significantly longer antennae, but the sexual dimorphism is not as apparent as in many of the Tiphiidae and Thynnidae.

Biology

Scoliid wasps are solitary parasitoids of scarab beetle larvae. Female scoliids burrow into the ground in search of these larvae and then use their sting to paralyze them. They sometimes excavate a chamber and move the paralyzed beetle larva into it before depositing an egg. Scoliid wasps act as important biocontrol agents, as many of the beetles they parasitize are pests, including the Japanese beetle. Male scoliids patrol territories, ready to mate with females emerging from the ground. Adult wasps may be minor pollinators of some plants and can be found on many wildflowers in the late summer.<ref name=Liu2021/>

Scoliidae has at least one species known to engage in pseudocopulation with an orchid. Flowers of the orchid Bipinnula penicillata in subtropical South America resemble females of Pygodasis bistrimaculata, tricking male wasps into attempting to mate and, in the process, provide pollination.<ref name=Ciotek2005/> Scoliids include some of the largest wasps in the world, such as Megascolia procer.<ref name=Sarrazin2008/>

Taxonomy

File:Scoliidae-wespe, gesig, gewysig van Karl V Krombein (1978).jpg

Face of a scoliid wasp in coded color, illustrating the main features: Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Adapted from K. V. Krombein (1978)<ref name=Krombein1978/>

File:Scolia bicincta. female.jpg

Scolia bicincta female, Pennsylvania

File:Megascolia procer MHNT dos.jpg

Megascolia procer, Indonesia

Living scoliidae genera are classified as follows into three subfamilies.<ref name=Osten2005/><ref name=WaspWeb/><ref name=Kimsey2022/><ref name=Liu2024/> There are additionally two subfamilies known only from the fossil record.<ref name=Rasnitsyn1993/><ref name=Antropov2014/>

Subfamily Proscoliinae Rasnitsyn, 1977

• Proscolia Rasnitsyn 1977<ref name=FaunaEuropaea/>

Subfamily Campsomerinae Betrem, 1972

Tribe Campsomerini Betrem, 1972

• Aelocampsomeris Bradley 1957
• Aureimeris Betrem, 1972
• Australelis Betrem, 1962
• Campsomeriella Betrem, 1941
• Campsomeris Lepeletier, 1838
• Cathimeris Betrem, 1972
• Charimeris Betrem, 1971
• Colpacampsomeris Betrem, 1967
• Dasyscolia Bradley, 1951
• Dielis Saussure & Sichel, 1864
• Extrameris Betrem, 1972
• Laevicampsomeris Betrem, 1933
• Leomeris Betrem, 1972
• Lissocampsomeris Bradley, 1957
• Megacampsomeris Betrem, 1928
• Megameris Betrem, 1967
• Micromeriella Betrem, 1972
• Peltatimeris Betrem, 1972
• Phalerimeris Betrem, 1967
• Pseudotrielis Betrem, 1928
• Pygodasis Bradley, 1957
• Radumeris Betrem, 1962
• Rhabdotomeris Bradley, 1957
• Sericocampsomeris Betrem, 1941
• Sphenocampsomeris Bradley, 1957
• Stygocampsomeris Bradley, 1957
• Tenebromeris Betrem, 1963
• Trisciloa Gribodo, 1893
• Tristimeris Betrem, 1967
• Tubatimeris Betrem, 1972
• Tureimeris Betrem, 1972
• Xanthocampsomeris Bradley, 1957

Subfamily Scoliinae Latreille, 1802

Tribe Scoliini Latreille, 1802

• Austroscolia Betrem, 1927
• Carinoscolia Betrem, 1927
• Diliacos Saussure & Sichel, 1864
• Laeviscolia Betrem, 1928
• Liacos Guérin-Méneville, 1838
• Megascolia Betrem, 1928
• Microscolia Betrem, 1928
• Mutilloscolia Bradley, 1959
• Pyrrhoscolia Bradley, 1957
• Scolia Fabricius 1775
• Triscolia de Saussure 1863

Tribe Trielidini Betrem, 1972

• Colpa Dufour, 1841
• Guigliana Betrem, 1967

Subfamily †Archaeoscoliinae Rasnitsyn, 1993

The subfamily Archaeoscoliinae is known exclusively from the fossil record, with the largest diversity having lived during the Cretaceous (Barremian) before going extinct by the late Eocene (Priabonian).

• †Archaeoscolia Template:Small<ref name=Rasnitsyn1993/>
  • †Archaeoscolia hispanica Template:Small<ref name=Rasnitsyn1999/>
  • †Archaeoscolia senilis Template:Small<ref name=Rasnitsyn1993/>
• †Cretoscolia Template:Small<ref name=Rasnitsyn1993/>
  • †Cretoscolia brasiliensis Template:Small<ref name=Osten2007/>
  • †Cretoscolia conquensis Template:Small<ref name=Rasnitsyn1999/>
  • †Cretoscolia formosa Template:Small<ref name=Zhang2004/>
  • †Cretoscolia laiyangica Template:Small<ref name=Zhang2004/>
  • †Cretoscolia montsecana Template:Small<ref name=Rasnitsyn1999/>
  • †Cretoscolia patiens Template:Small<ref name=Rasnitsyn1993/>
  • †Cretoscolia promissiva Template:Small<ref name=Rasnitsyn1993/>
  • †Cretoscolia rasnitsyni Template:Small<ref name=Zhang2004/>
• †Floriscolia Template:Small<ref name=Rasnitsyn1993/>
  • †Floriscolia relicta Template:Small<ref name=Rasnitsyn1993/>
• †Protoscolia Template:Small<ref name=Zhang2002/>
  • †Protoscolia imperialis Template:Small
  • †Protoscolia normalis Template:Small
  • †Protoscolia sinensis Template:Small

Three additional undescribed specimens from the Ypresian Eocene Okanagan Highlands were referred to the subfamily by S. Bruce Archibald et al. (2018). The two fossils from the Klondike Mountain Formation of Northeastern Washington state, and one fossil from the Allenby Formation of South central British Columbia were mentioned briefly but no specific commentary on placement or finer taxonomic detail was presented in the paper.<ref name=Archibald2018/>

Subfamily †Palaeoscoliinae Antropov, 2014

A second fossil subfamily, Palaeoscoliinae, was described from the Late Eocene to comprise a single species. This species was morphologically closer to the Scoliinae than to the Archaeoscoliinae.<ref name=Antropov2014/>

• †Palaeoscolia Template:Small
  • †Palaeoscolia relicta Template:Small

History

In 1847 and 1849 Eduard Eversmann published his "Fauna Hymenopterologica Volgo-Uralensis—exhibiting the species of Hymenoptera which he observed and described in the provinces situated between the Volga river and the Ural mountains." He placed the Scoliadae Template:Small as a subfamily of the Sphegidae Template:Small. He mentioned the genus Scolia Template:Small with 13 species, the genus Tiphia Template:Small with 3 species, and the genus Meria Template:Small, with only the species Meria sexpunctata.<ref name=Evermann1847/>

North American species list

There are 36 species of Scoliidae reported to occur in North America. Two additional species, Campsomeriella annulata (Fabricius, 1793) and Micromeriella marginella (Klug, 1810), were introduced to the United States but failed to become established.<ref name=Nearctica/><ref name=Ramírez-Guillén2022/>

• Aelocampsomeris variegata (Fabricius, 1793) – Mexico, Central America
• Campsomeris atrata (Fabricius, 1775) – Caribbean
• Campsomeris vitripennis (Smith, 1855) – Mexico, Central America
• Colpa (Colpa) octomaculata (Say, 1823) – United States, Mexico
• Colpa (Colpa) pollenifera (Viereck, 1906) – United States, Mexico
• Colpa (Crioscolia) alcione (Banks, 1917) – United States, Mexico
• Colpa (Crioscolia) flammicoma (Bradley, 1928) – United States, Mexico
• Dielis dorsata (Fabricius, 1787) – United States, Caribbean, Mexico, Central America
• Dielis pilipes (Saussure, 1858) – United States, Mexico
• Dielis plumipes (Drury, 1770) – United States
• Dielis tejensis Szafranski, 2023 – United States
• Dielis tolteca (Saussure, 1857) – United States, Mexico, Central America
• Dielis trifasciata (Fabricius, 1793) – United States, Caribbean
• Lissocampsomeris wesmaeli (Lepeletier, 1845) – Mexico, Central America
• Pygodasis ephippium (Say, 1837) – United States, Mexico, Central America
• Pygodasis hyalina (Saussure, 1864) – Mexico
• Pygodasis ianthina (Bradley, 1945) – Mexico, Central America
• Pygodasis vittata (Sichel, 1864) – Mexico, Central America
• Pygodasis quadrimaculata (Fabricus, 1775) – United States
• Rhabdotimeris rokitanskyi (Dalla Torre, 1897) – Mexico, Central America
• Scolia bicincta (Fabricius, 1775) – United States
• Scolia dubia (Say, 1837) – United States, Mexico
• Scolia fuscipennis Bartlett, 1912 – Mexico
• Scolia guttata (Burmeister, 1853) – United States, Mexico, Central America
• Scolia mexicana (Saussure, 1858) – United States, Mexico
• Scolia nobilitata (Fabricius, 1805) – United States, Mexico
• Scolia rufiventris Fabricius, 1804 – Mexico, Central America
• Scolia vintschgaui Dalla Torre, 1893 – Mexico
• Stygocampsomeris servillei (Guérin, 1838) – Mexico, Central America
• Triscolia ardens (Smith, 1855) – United States, Mexico
• Triscolia badia (Saussure, 1863) – Mexico
• Xanthocampsomeris completa (Rohwer, 1927) – United States, Mexico, Central America
• Xanthocampsomeris fulvohirta (Cresson, 1865) – United States, Caribbean
• Xanthocampsomeris hesterae (Rohwer, 1921) – United States, Mexico, Central America
• Xanthocampsomeris limosa (Burmeister, 1853) – United States, Mexico
• Xanthocampsomeris tricincta (Fabricius, 1775) – Caribbean

External links

• Scoliid wasps of Florida. University of Florida IFAS