Sceliphron
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Sceliphron curvatum when collecting clay |
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| Klug , 1801 |
Sceliphron (from the Greek σκελίς ( skelís ) "hip, hind foot" and φρόνις ( phrónis ) "insight, knowledge") is a genus of digger wasps (Spheciformes) from the family Sphecidae . There are six species in Europe. The oriental wall wasp ( Sceliphron curvatum ) was introduced into Europe from India and Nepal and was first observed there in 1979 in Styria.
features
The animals, which are up to 20 millimeters long, have large, black and yellow colored bodies. The abdomen is stalked at the base and sharply defined ovoid at the back.
Way of life
In contrast to what is usual for representatives of the Sphecidae, the females do not build their nests in the ground, but make stable, fist-sized nests made up of several cells from moist earth or moist clay. The nests are attached to plants, walls, overhanging rocks and the like in a protected place, such as a niche. Often you can spot the nests on buildings. It is not uncommon for wasps to be spread to other parts of the world by humans with goods due to this nesting method. For example, the Sceliphron caementarium, which was originally widespread in America, was able to spread in the Pacific and Atlantic regions and also in the Mediterranean region.
The adults are flower visitors and often fly to puddles to obtain material for nest building. The brood is fed with spiders. These are not specifically selected, with up to 40 spiders per cell, depending on the size of the prey.
Species (Europe)
An identification key for European and Mediterranean Sceliphron species can be found at Schmid-Egger (see section Literature ).
- Sceliphron caementarium ( Drury , 1770)
- Oriental wall wasp ( Sceliphron curvatum ( F. Smith , 1870)), also called "Oriental mortar wasp" or "Asian clay wasp"
- Sceliphron distillatorium ( Illiger , 1807)
- Sceliphron funestum ( Kohl , 1918)
- Sceliphron madraspatanum ( Fabricius , 1781)
- Sceliphron spirifex ( Linnaeus , 1758)
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sceliphron. Fauna Europaea, accessed July 24, 2010 .
- ^ A b c Manfred Blösch: The digger wasps of Germany: way of life, behavior, distribution . 1st edition. Goecke & Evers, 2000, ISBN 3-931374-26-2 , pp. 139 f .
literature
- Manfred Blösch: The digger wasps in Germany: way of life, behavior, distribution . 1st edition. Goecke & Evers, 2000, ISBN 3-931374-26-2 .
- Johannes Gepp and Eugen Bregant, On the biology of the synanthropic oriental wall wasp Sceliphron (Prosceliphron) curvatum (Smith, 1870) (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae) , in: Mitt. Naturwiss. Ver. Steiermark, Vol. 116, pp. 221-240, Graz 1986 ( PDF ).
- Johannes Gepp, Is the introduced wall wasp Sceliphron curvatum displacing autochthonous Hymenoptera in southeastern Austria? , in: Entomologica Austriaca 8/2003 ( PDF ).
- Lavinia Schardt, Carsten Renker, Aloysius Staudt & Gerd Reder (2012): On constant advance: The current distribution of Sceliphron curvatum (F. Smith, 1870) in Germany (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) , in: Mainzer naturwiss. Archive 49, 143-164.
- Christian Schmid-Egger, Sceliphron curvatum (F. Smith 1870) in Europe with an identification key for the European and Mediterranean Sceliphron species (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae). , in: bembiX 19 (2004), pp. 7-28, Bielefeld ( PDF ).
