Dagger wasps
| Dagger wasps | ||||||||||||
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Scolia nobilitata tricincta |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Scoliidae | ||||||||||||
| Latreille , 1802 | ||||||||||||
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The dagger wasps (Scoliidae) are a family of the hymenoptera (Hymenoptera).
features
The dagger wasps are usually quite large (10–60 mm), the large species are among the largest hymenoptera. Megascolia maculata is the largest hymenoptera species in Europe. In all species, both sexes are winged . The species are partially uniformly black in color, with many species they have a conspicuous red, yellow or white markings or bandages. In many cases, they are very similar to social wasps, which they may imitate because of their ability to defend themselves (Bates' mimicry ). Although the females have a defensive sting, despite their often impressive body size, they are hardly capable of stinging heavily in the species examined so far. The sexes are often colored differently ( sexual dimorphism ), and the males are often a bit smaller.
The head has large complex eyes which, like those of the Vespidae, are bordered (kidney-shaped) at the front (in Proscolia only slightly indented). From the mouthparts, the maxillae and labium have grown together to form an almost trunk-shaped stretchable structure (labiomaxillary complex) with which the animals can lick nectar from flowers. In addition, there are strong mandibles that are not used for food intake, they serve e.g. B. supportive as digging tools. On the torso, the rear edge of the pronotum is strongly curved at the back, making it noticeably narrow. The narrow side edges ("scapulae") extend to the wing scales (tegulae). The structure of the hips (coxes) of the legs is characteristic on the abdomen. While the anterior coxae touch in the middle, those of the middle and hind legs are widely separated by a plate-shaped widened meso- and metasternum, the sternal plates slightly overlapping the joint. The legs are long and strong, especially the rails (tibia), they are used in particular by females as grave legs. The tibia of the second and especially the third pair of legs have long and strong thorns, which are often arranged in rows. At the end of the tibiae of the first pair of legs sits a long, curved, comb-shaped spur that is used as a cleaning comb. The claws are simple.
The veining of the wing pairs forms cells that do not reach the wing edge ("open" veining). The long tip part of both pairs of wings, which is not veined, has a fine, corrugated longitudinal stripe in its surface structure, which is highly characteristic of the family. The wings are crystal clear in many species, in some partially or completely darkened, they often have an iridescent surface iridescence, sometimes in connection with greenish or blue metallic structure colors. This is created by the interaction of the black pigment melanin with a thin, single-layer, highly refractive coating.
The first abdominal segment ( propodeum ) of the dagger wasps, which is fused with the trunk, is always divided into three separate fields by longitudinal furrows; when viewed from the side it slopes down almost vertically. The free abdomen (metasoma) is separated by a constriction ("wasp waist"), but never pedunculated. There is a deep furrow between the sternites of the first two free abdominal segments. In the female, the sting sits on the abdomen, which is hidden in the abdomen in the resting position and not freely visible. In the male, the last free sternite (subgenital plate or epipygium) is drawn out in a characteristic way in three points.
Biology and way of life
Imaginal dagger wasps are diurnal flower visitors, they feed on nectar and honeydew and can therefore be found regularly on flowers. As far as is known, the females must ingest food for successful oviposition. Many species are very long-lived with imaginal periods up to 5 months. The animals are to be caught by the scent of flowers in connection with blue colored bowls. The exclusive connection to blue flowers, which was often mentioned earlier, actually does not seem to exist. The wasps prefer clearly compound inflorescences, e.g. B. the Asteraceae and Apiaceae . As far as is known, their importance as pollinators is minor. The Dasyscolia ciliata species is, however, the only known pollinator of the mirror orchid ( Ophrys speculum ), a species of orchid. As a deceptive flower, this imitates both the appearance and the smell of the female of this species. It is pollinated by the male who tries to mate the supposed female.
As far as their biology is known, the larvae of the dagger wasps all develop as external (idiobionte) parasitoids on beetle larvae living in the ground, especially " grubs " of the superfamily Scarabaeoidea , more rarely ground-living weevils . Some species also adopt species from these families that live in heavily rotted dead wood , wood mulm or plant litter. The two species Scolia sexmaculata and S. hirta occurring in Germany prefer the grubs of rose beetles ( Cetonia ) and of representatives of the subfamily Rutelinae ( Anomala , Anisoplia ). The southern European dagger wasp Megascolia maculata ( yellow-headed dagger wasp ), which is up to 50 mm in size, parasitizes mainly grubs of rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles . Females can often be seen in search flight at a low altitude above possible habitats (in temperate latitudes especially warm sand areas). It is believed that they can chemically locate the beetle larvae. When a suitable spot is reached, the female begins to dig. In the case of the Japanese species Campsomeriella annulata , the host finding was investigated; this species is able to chemotactically recognize beetle larvae, sand contaminated with larval faeces and sand in which beetle larvae had previously been kept. The host is stunned by a sting and is populated with a 2-4 mm long egg either on the spot or deeper in the ground in a specially created cavity . The dagger wasp larva first sucks on the grub from the outside, but later it is completely devoured. Pupation takes place in a cocoon .
The mating of the dagger wasps often takes place immediately after hatching from the ground, with the males hatching slightly before the females. Females are mainly recognized by sex attractants ( pheromones ). As far as is known, all species are separate sexes, and parthenogenesis has not been proven with certainty in this family.
Distribution, endangerment and number of species
The family comprises around 560 species worldwide, with a clear focus on the tropics. Only a few species live in the temperate latitudes and are restricted to habitats with less heat here. In North America they occur with two species north to Canada.
In Germany only two species have been identified. Of these, Scolia hirta is seldom found in Brandenburg, very rarely also in northern Saxony, Scolia sexmaculata ( synonym Scolia quadripunctata ) very rarely in Baden-Württemberg (sandy areas of the northern Rhine plain near Sandhausen and Kaiserstuhl ), and earlier also in Bavaria and Brandenburg. Four species are already known from Austria; it come Colpa sexmaculata and Megascolia maculata (subsp. maculata ) added. 69 species live in the Mediterranean area.
The current Red List of Endangered Species in Germany names Scolia hirta as "endangered" (Category 3), Scolia sexmaculata as critically endangered (Category 2).
Systematics
The dagger wasps are assigned to the superfamily Vespoidea , the fold wasps, in the subordination of the waist wasps (Apocrita). There is still no agreement on their sister group relationship. Mostly they are regarded as a sister group of the Vespidae , which is mainly supported by morphological arguments. According to molecular analyzes, the small Bradynobaenidae family could also be a sister group. The former superfamily of the "dagger wasp-like" or "Scolioidea" has now been recognized as a paraphyletic group and is no longer represented.
The dagger wasps are divided into two subfamilies:
- Subfamily Scoliinae
- Subfamily Proscoliinae
The subfamily Proscoliinae includes only one genus Proscolia with two known species, of which the first found ( Proscolia archaica Rasnitsyn, 1977) is still only known from the type specimen , a male found in Armenia. The second species ( Proscolia spectator Day, 1981) has been found in four locations in Greece and two in Turkey. Nothing is known about their biology.
The subfamily Scoliinae is characterized by unstable nomenclature with many synonyms, which is mainly characterized by numerous regroupings and multiple descriptions of genera. The editor Q. Argaman comments on this "The nomenclature of Scoliidae is, at the least, disastrous". Unfortunately, he himself contributed to this further through an unconventional structure. Despite their size, Scoliidae are considered a difficult family to identify. An important reason is the great variability of many species in terms of body size, color and even surface sculpture.
Genera and species (selection)
- Colpa
- Megascolia
- Scolia
literature
- H. Goulet, JT Huber: Hymenoptera of the world: An identification guide to families. Center for Land and Biological Resources Research, Ottawa 1993, ISBN 0-660-14933-8 .
- Barbara IP Barratt: Aspects of reproductive biology and behavior of scoliid wasps. (DOC Science Internal Series 147). Dept. of Conservation, Wellington 2003, ISBN 0-478-22513-X .
Individual evidence
- ^ Wolfgang Schedl: The dagger wasps of South Tyrol. In: Gredleriana. 6, 2006, pp. 343-350.
- ↑ Michael Sarrazin, Jean Pol Vigneron, Victoria Welch, Marie Rassart: Nanomorphology of the blue iridescent wings of a giant tropical wasp, Megascolia procer javanensis (Hymenoptera). In: Physical Reviews. E Vol. 78 Issue 5 2008, doi : 10.1103 / PhysRevE.78.051902
- ↑ J. Vuts, J. Razov, MB Kaydan, M. Toth: Visual and olfactory cues for catching parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera: Scolitidae). In: Acta zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 2012, pp. 1217-8837.
- ↑ HF Paulus: How male insects are deceived by orchid flowers - pollination tricks and evolution in the Mediterranean ragwort genus Ophrys. In: Denisia. Neue Serie 66, 2007, pp. 255–294.
- ↑ Makiko Inoue, Tomoji Endo: Below-ground host location by Campsomeriella annulata (Hymenoptera: Scoliidae), a parasitoid of scarabaeid grubs. In: Journal of Ethology. Volume 26, Issue 1, 2008, pp. 43-50.
- ↑ Till Osten: The Scoliiden Fauna of Central Asia (Hym., Scoliidae) (Kasakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tadzbikistan, Kyrgyzstan). An identification key. In: Linz biological contributions. 37th year, issue 2, Linz 2005, pp. 1451–1479 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
- ↑ C. Schmidt-Egger, F. Burger: Critical index of the German species of the Mutillidae, Myrmosidae, Sapygidae, Scoliidae and Tiphiidae (Hymenoptera). In: Bembix. 10 (1998), pp. 42-49.
- ^ J. Gusenleitner, M. Madl, W. Schedl, H. Wiesbauer, H. Zettel: On the knowledge of the Scoliidae (Hymenoptera) Austria. In: Contributions to entomofaunistics. 8 (2007), pp. 55-68.
- ↑ T. east: The Scoliids of the Mediterranean area and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera). An identification key. In: Linz biological contributions. 32/2 (2000), pp. 537-593.
- ↑ C. Schmid-Egger: Red List and List of Complete Species of Wasps in Germany. Hymenoptera, Aculeata: digger wasps (Ampulicidae, Crabronidae, Sphecidae), sawfly wasps (Pompilidae), gold wasps (Chrysididae), parrot wasps (Vespidae), spider ants (Mutillidae), dagger wasps (Scoliidae), cadaver wasps (Tiphiidae) and. In: M. Binot-Hafke, S. Balzer, N. Becker, H. Gruttke, H. Haupt, N. Hofbauer, G. Ludwig, G. Matzke-Hajek, M. Strauch (Red.): Red List of Endangered Animals , Plants and mushrooms of Germany. Volume 3: Invertebrates. Part 1. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster. In: Nature Conservation and Biodiversity. 70 (3) 2011, pp. 419-465.
- ↑ Denis J. Brothers: Phylogeny and evolution of wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera, Chrysidoidea, Vespoidea and Apoidea). In: Zoologica Scripta. 28 (1999), pp. 233-249.
- ↑ Andrew H. Debevec, Sophie Cardinal, Bryan N. Danforth: Identifying the sister group to the bees: a molecular phylogeny of Aculeata with an emphasis on the superfamily Apoidea. In: Zoologica Scripta. 41 (5) 2012, pp. 527-535.
- ^ Till Osten, Werner Arens: Contribution to the knowledge of the Scoliidae fauna of Greece (without Cyprus) (Hymenoptera, Scoliidae). In: Entomofauna. 25 (20) 2004, pp. 305-320 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
- ^ Q. Argaman: Generic synopsis of Scoliidae (Hymenoptera, Scolioidea). In: Annales Historico-Naturales Muaseo Nationalis Hungarici. 88 (1996) pp. 171-222.
