Bee-hunting knot wasp

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Bee-hunting knot wasp
Bee-hunting knotty wasp (Cerceris rybyensis)

Bee-hunting knotty wasp ( Cerceris rybyensis )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Superfamily : Apoidea
Family : Crabronidae
Genre : Knot wasps ( Cerceris )
Type : Bee-hunting knot wasp
Scientific name
Cerceris rybyensis
( Linnaeus , 1771)

The bee-hunting knot wasp ( Cerceris rybyensis ) is a hymenoptera from the Crabronidae family . The species is not endangered.

features

The bee-hunting nodular wasp reaches a body length of 8 to 12 millimeters (females) or 6 to 10 millimeters (males) and is therefore smaller than the similar sand nodule wasp ( Cerceris arenaria ). Their abdomen is patterned very variably and has several completely black and several yellow spotted segments. The second tergite is basal yellow, the third segment is yellow and has a black triangle in the middle, the fourth is only slightly or not at all yellow. The legs are basal black, from the middle of the femora (thighs) they are yellow. The species can be confused with Cerceris sabulosa and Cerceris hortivaga .

Occurrence

The species is distributed from North Africa across Europe to Japan. It can be found almost everywhere and frequently in Central Europe . Like the similar sandknot wasp, it lives in open and sandy habitats as well as on clay and loess-containing soils and also in residential areas. The animals fly in one generation from early June to mid-September.

Way of life

The species feeds its larvae on bees of the genera Halictus , Lasioglossum (furrow bees), Andrena ( sand bees ) or Panurgus ( shaggy bees ). The nests are often created in colonies close to the nest of the prey. The 10 to 15 centimeter long main corridor initially leads steeply downwards, then horizontally and ends in a cell from which up to seven other cells can branch off. A mound of excavated material is piled up around the opening of the nest. The bee-hunting nodular wasp is parasitized by the sand wasp ( Hedychrum nobile ) and Hedychrum gestäckeri as well as by satellite flies from the subfamily Miltogramminae .

supporting documents

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Heiko Bellmann : Bees, wasps, ants. Hymenoptera of Central Europe . Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co KG, Stuttgart 1995, pp. 184 ff., ISBN 3-440-09690-4 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Rolf Witt: Wasps. Observe, determine. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-89440-243-1 .
  3. ↑ Manfred Blösch: The digger wasps in Germany . Keltern: Goecke & Evers 2000, pp. 422-426.

Web links

Commons : Bee-hunting Nodal Wasp  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files