Records of the Zoological Survey of India - A Journal of Indian Zoology

Phong Huy Pham ¹, P. Girish Kumar ²

Affiliations
1 Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Hanoi, VN
2 Zoological Survey of India, M-Block, New Alipore, Kolkata-700053, West Bengal, IN

Abstract

The solitary wasps comprises of 3 subfamilies (Euparagiinae, Masarinae, and Eumeninae) in the family Vespidae. The Euparagiinae currently consists of 10 valid species in 1 genera. The Masarinae includes 344 species in 14 genera. The Eumeninae are cosmopolitan with 3579 species in 210 genera (Pickett and Carpenter, 2010). Only one of these three subfamilies Eumeninae, is found in Vietnam and in South-East Asia in general (Carpenter and Nguyen, 2003).

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P. Girish Kumar ¹, P. C. Mazumdar ¹, Phong Huy Pham ²

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, M-Block, New Alipore, Kolkata, West Bengal-700053, IN
2 Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet Road, Hanoi, VN

Abstract

The members of the genus Vespa of the subfamily Vespinae of the family Vespidae are commonly known as hornet wasps. Hornet wasps are predominantly found in the Oriental and Palaearctic Regions of the world. There are 23 valid species are reported worldwide of which 16 species from the Indian subcontinent and 15 species from India (Carpenter & Kojima, 1997). Economically, hornet wasps can be both beneficial and harmful. They are beneficial as predators of agricultural, forest and hygienic pests. The larvae and pupae of them are utilized as food in some parts of the world. They are harmful as they sting human beings and domesticated animals, they are the natural enemies of honey bees and they are damaging fruits by feeding just prior to harvest.

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P. Girish Kumar ¹, Phong Huy Pham ²

Affiliations
1 Zoological Survey of India, M-Block, New Alipore, Kolkata-700053, West Bengal, IN
2 Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet Road, Hanoi, VN

Abstract

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.

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