Scolia sexmaculata
| Scolia sexmaculata | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Scolia sexmaculata | ||||||||||||
| ( OV Müller , 1766) |
Scolia sexmaculata is a hymenoptera from the family of the dagger wasps (Scoliidae).
features
The animals reach a body length of 10 to 15 to eight millimeters (females) or 9 to 14 millimeters (males). They have a shiny black body color and wear wide yellow bands on the third and fourth, sometimes also on the fifth abdomen, which are separated in the middle. Their wings are tinted brown. The species can be confused with the similar bristly dagger wasp ( Scolia hirta ), which is slightly larger and has the two yellow bands on the second and third abdomen segment.
Occurrence
The species is distributed in southern, central Europe and east to Central Asia. It colonizes dry grasslands and forest edges with favorable temperatures, preferably with sandy soils. The animals occur from June to August. They are very rare in Central Europe.
Way of life
Scolia sexmaculata parasitizes the larvae of May and rose beetles . The females track down the larvae in the ground and dig up to them with their heavily thorny front legs to paralyze them with a sting and lay an egg on them. Occasionally the cavity dug by the larva is slightly modified. The wasp larva feeds on its host and then pupates in a cocoon under the ground. The adults prefer blue flowers such as thyme , speedwell , field man litter or germander .
swell
literature
- Rolf Witt: Wasps. Observe, determine. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-89440-243-1 .
Web links
- Scolia (Scolia) sexmaculata in Fauna Europaea