Illustrated keys to Scoliidae (Insecta, Hymenoptera, Scolioidea) from China.

Zhen Liu,Cornelis Van Achterberg,Xue-Xin Chen,Jun-Hua He,Hua-Yan Chen

doi:10.3897/zookeys.1025.61385

Zhen Liu, Cornelis Van Achterberg + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1025.61385

Copy DOI

Abstract

The Scoliidae occur predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions and are ectoparasitoids of Scarabaeoidea larvae (especially of Melolonthinae) which are immobilised, parasitised by the female wasp in their terrestrial larval gallery and buried deeper in a special cell by the female wasp. Herein, we provided, for the first time, illustrated keys to 11 genera and 52 species of Scoliidae from China, based on specimens in the Naturalis Biodiversity Center (RMNH, Leiden) and additional specimens from the Chinese Academy of Insect Science (Beijing), Zhejiang University (ZJUH, Hangzhou) and Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU, Guangzhou) and it is a first attempt to make keys available for all the Scoliidae species in China.

Highlights

Scoliid wasps (Hymenoptera, Scoliidae) form a medium-sized family with approx. 560 species worldwide and occur predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions (Osten 2005)
In the 18th century, more than 20 species have been reported from China by several authors (Lepeletier 1845; Eversmann 1846, 1849; Smith 1855; de Saussure 1858; de Saussure et al 1864; Morawitz 1889; Bingham 1896, 1897)
Betrem (1941) published a systematic study on the Chinese Scoliidae including 2 genera, 61 species, subspecies and varieties from China, which is the first overview of the Chinese fauna, but partly confusing, because of naming too many subspecies and varieties

Summary

Introduction

Scoliid wasps (Hymenoptera, Scoliidae) form a medium-sized family with approx. 560 species worldwide and occur predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions (Osten 2005). Fabricius (1781– 1804) described 41 species of Scoliidae, including six from China. In the 19th century, Betrem (1928) published a monograph on the Indo-Australian Scoliidae, including 72 species and subspecies, of which 20 were reported from China.

Results

Conclusion