New Distributional Records of Scoliid Wasps (Insecta:Hymenoptera:Scoliidae) from India

The family Scoliidae, belonging to the Superfamily Vespoidea of the order Hymenoptera, is a group of most primitive solitary aculeate wasps. They are commonly known as hairy wasps. Adults are stoutly bodied, densely hairy, often predominantly black, commonly marked with yellow, orange or red and extensively modified for fossorial habit. Their wings are hyaline, yellowish hyaline or dark with metallic reflections. The hair varies from entirely black or black mixed with white to entirely golden or reddish. Size may vary in length from 5 mm to 36 mm, rarely up to 50 mm. They are usually very fast moving wasps. Males and females usually show higher degree of sexual dimorphism. They have the biological characteristics of the more primitive parasitic Hymenoptera, and the morphological characteristics of the more advanced “stinging wasps”. The larvae of scoliid wasps are ectoparasitoides on white grubs usually Scarabaeoidea larva. Because of their parasitic habits, it is possible to exploit some of these wasps for biological control of insect pests.