''Tiphia femorata'', often known as a beetle-killing wasp or common tiphiid wasp, is a species of wasp belonging to the family

Tiphiidae The Tiphiidae (also known as the tiphiid wasps) are a family of large, solitary wasps whose larvae are parasitoids of various beetle larvae, especially those in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea. Until recently, this family contained several addition ...

, subfamily

Tiphiinae Tiphiinae is one of the two subfamilies of the flower wasp family Tiphiidae, the other being the Nearctic Brachycistidinae. It is the larger of the two and has a worldwide distribution. Characteristics Tiphiinae are small to medium sized solitar ...

Subspecies

Subspecies include: *'' Tiphia femorata femorata'' Fabricius, 1775 *'' Tiphia femorata vaucheri'' Tournier, 1901 (Belgium, Spain, North Africa)

Distribution and habitat

This species is present in most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, the eastern

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Si ...

, and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

.Fauna europaea
/ref> It mainly inhabits warmer, dry and semi-arid grasslands and meadows.

Description

The adult males grow up to long, while females reach .
/ref> The body is completely black, light haired, and the tibiae and femora of the middle and rear pairs of legs are reddish brown. Rather similar species are '' Tiphia minuta'' and '' Tiphia unicolor''.

Biology

It is a

univoltine Voltinism is a term used in biology to indicate the number of broods or generations of an organism in a year. The term is most often applied to insects, and is particularly in use in sericulture, where silkworm varieties vary in their voltinism. ...

species. These wasps can be encountered from June through September feeding on nectar and pollen of flowers (especially on

Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus '' Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plant ...

species). Like most members of Tiphiidae, ''T. femorata'' parasitizes by stinging the larvae of various species of

Scarabaeidae The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...

, though especially hunts beetles of ''

Amphimallon solstitiale ''Amphimallon solstitiale'', also known as the summer chafer or European june beetle, is a beetle similar to the cockchafer but much smaller, approximately in length. They are declining in numbers now, but where found they are often seen in ...

''. The females can smell larvae of beetles in the soil, then they dig up and drop an egg in their victims. The larvae of ''T. femorata'' feed externally on the grubs.

Gallery

Image: Tiphiidae - Tiphia femorata..jpg, Female Image:Tiphia femorata (dkrb)-2.jpg Image:Tiphia femorata (dkrb)-6.jpg, Dead female specimen; wings unfolded, antennae curled

Bibliography

*Allen H. W., Jaynes H. A. (1930). Contribution to the taxonomy of Asiatic wasps of the genus Tiphia (Scoliidae). // Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, 1930. Vol. 76, N 17. 105 p. *Tsuneki К. (1985). Taxonomic studies of the Japanese species of the genus Tiphia (I). Revision and addition (Hymenoptera, Tiphiidae). // Spec. Publ. Jap. Hymen. Assoc. 1985. N 31. P. 1-90.

References

External links

Insectconsultancy
{{Taxonbar, from=Q310081 Tiphiidae Insects described in 1775 Hymenoptera of Europe Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius