A new record of Scolia (Discolia) fasciatopunctata dunensis Betrem (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Scoliidae) from the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India

 

 

Manoj Jadhav 1, P. Girish Kumar 2 & S.M. Gaikwad 3

 

 

1 Zoological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Pune, Maharashtra 411044, India

2 Zoological Survey of India, M-Block, New Alipore, Kolkata, West Bengal 700053, India

3 Department of Zoology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Vidyanagar, Kolhapur, Maharashtra 416004, India

1 jadhav.manoj83@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 kpgiris@gmail.com, 3 gaikwadsm@rediffmail.com

 

 

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3704.6715-8 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CAD7F769-E83B-4664-A9E7-6132B43E5AFD

 

Editor: B.K. Agarwala, Tripura University, Suriyamaninagar, India. Date of publication: 26 December 2014 (online & print)

 

Manuscript details: Ms # o3704 | Received 10 July 2013 | Final received 08 November 2014 | Finally accepted 30 November 2014

 

Citation: Jadhav, M., P.G. Kumar & S.M. Gaikwad (2014). A new record of Scolia (Discolia) fasciatopunctata dunensis Betrem (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Scoliidae) from the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 6(14): 6715–6718; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3704.6715-8

 

Copyright: © Jadhav et al. 2014. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.

 

Funding: In-house study programme.

 

Competing Interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to Dr. K. Venkataraman, Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata for constant support and providing facilities. The first and third authors are grateful to Dr. P.S. Bhatnagar, Officer-in-Charge, Western Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Pune for providing research facilities and the Head, Department of Zoology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur for constant encouragement. Our thanks are also due to Dr. Neelesh Dahanukar, Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, Pune for valuable help rendered in preparing the map.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The family Scoliidae is a group of aculeate fossorial wasps with solitary habits and belongs to the superfamily Vespoidea of the order Hymenoptera.  Representatives of this family are robust, their body size varying from 5–35 mm, seldom up to 50mm, and are popularly called ‘hairy wasps’ or ‘hairy flower wasps’.  These insects are usually black and bear yellow, with red or white markings (spots or band).  Their wings are dark brown and show metallic or blue iridescence.  Males are slender than females and have longer antennae; often both sexes show variation pattern.  Though cosmopolitan in distribution, they are predominantly found in tropical regions.  Adult wasps are flower visitors and feed on nectar whereas their larvae are parasitoids of ground dwelling larvae of the family Scarabaeidae.  Bingham (1897) provided a consolidated account on Scoliidae fauna of the Indian subcontinent and recorded 53 species of true scoliids.  Later, this insect group was pursued by Betrem (1928), Jonathan & Gupta (1999a, 1999b, 2003), Gupta & Jonathan (2003), Gupta (2007), Kumar & Kazmi (2008, 2012), Kumar (2009a, 2009b, 2010), and Bhattacharjee et al. (2010).

The members of this family can be easily distinguished from other wasps in having: wings finely membranous apically and wrinkled (i.e., striolate) longitudinally; meso- and metasternum form a flat plate overlying the bases of the middle- and hind coxae, and propodeum divided into three by two longitudinal grooves passing through both disc and declivity (Krombein 1978).

Worldwide, this family is represented by about 300 species under 35 genera and two subfamilies (Proscoliinae and Scoliinae).  In India, 79 species under 13 genera in the subfamily Scoliinae have been reported till date.  From Maharashtra State, the scoliid fauna is represented by 10 species under six genera (Gupta & Jonathan 2003; Kumar 2010; Kumar & Kazmi 2012).

In this communication Scolia (Discolia) fasciatopunctata dunensis Betrem is reported for the first time from the Western Ghats, based on the specimens collected from Pune and Kolhapur districts of Maharashtra.  Before this, the subspecies was known from Delhi (I.A.R.I. Campus), Himachal Pradesh (Kangra), Odisha (Gopalpur), Uttarakhand (Dehradun, Chilla), Uttar Pradesh (Khurja), and West Bengal (Kolkata).  The species Scolia fasciatopunctata Guerin is represented by two subspecies which can be distinguished by the key. 

 

Methods

The scoliids were collected at different localities in Pune and Kolhapur districts of Maharashtra.  Both the districts are part of the Western Ghats of Maharashtra state.  All the specimens were captured by sweep net and killed by ethyl acetate and preserved as dry.  Later, the specimens were relaxed, properly spread and held on entomological pins (No. 2; size: 40x0.38 mm) for further taxonomic treatment.  The specimens were studied under a Lawrence & Mayo stereozoom microscope.  All identified specimens were labeled, duly registered and deposited at the Western Regional Centre of the Zoological Survey of India, Pune.  The nomenclature and identification is followed after Krombein (1978) and Gupta & Jonathan (2003).

 

Scolia (Discolia) fasciatopunctata dunensis Betrem, 1928

1928. Scolia (Scolia) dunensis Betrem, Treubia, 9 (suppl.): 251, (key), (des.). Male, Dehradun, India (holotype in Z.S.I., Calcutta).

1964. Scolia (Discolia) dunensis Betrem: Betrem & Bradley, Zool. Meded, 40: 92 (new subgeneric assignment).

Material examined: Two females (Ent. 6/196), Adarwadi, Tamhini Ghat, two males (Ent.6/197), Dongarwadi, Tamhini Ghat (Mulshi), 12.x.2012; one Female (Ent.6/202) and one male (Ent.6/203), Pune University Campus, Pune (Haveli), 14.x.2012; two females (Ent.6/206), Dimbhe Budruk, one female (Ent.6/277), Ahupe Village, one male (Ent.6/278), near bridge on road to Dimbhe Dam, (Ambegaon), 20.iv.2012; one female, on Button grass flowers, Bhor (Bhor), 6.xi.2012, (Ent.6/214); one female (Ent.6/220) and one male (Ent.6/221), Donaje Village, at the base of Sinhagad fort (Haveli), 23.xi.2012; one female, Chikhalgaon (Rajgurunagar), 15.vi.2012, (Ent.6/228); one female (Ent.6/243), Pawana-nagar (Mawal), 18.vii.2012; one female (Ent.6/298), Pabal (Shirur), 15.iv.2013, all collections by Manoj Jadhav from Pune District; two females (Ent.6/238), Shivaji University Campus, Kolhapur (Karveer), Kolhapur District, 14.i.2013, collection by Yogesh Koli (Table 1).

 

 

 

Distribution: Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra (Pune & Kolhapur), Odisha, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

A distribution map (Fig. 1) for S. (Discolia) fasciatopunctata dunensis in India is provided based on the published records and present collection made from the Pune and Kolhapur districts of Maharashtra.  The latitudinal distribution of this subspecies lies in the range of 160N–320N latitude while its altitudinal range varies from 12–1172 m.

 

 

Diagnosis: Female (Image 1): Integument and vestiture black, abdomen with faint blue reflecting surface, third tergite with light to dark red band which may be narrow to broad, sometimes the band is interrupted or constricted in the middle.  Wings dark brown, with predominant blue reflections in white light. Length- 16–22 mm.

Male (Image 2): Integument and vestiture black, abdomen entirely black with faint bluish to golden reflections.  Wings light brown, anteriorly darker, with coppery to purplish reflections.  Length 12–15 mm.

 

 

 

 

Discussion

Scolia (Discolia) fasciatopunctata dunensis is reported for the first time from the Western Ghats.  The present record extends its known geographical range significantly southwards from Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and westwards from Odisha, and West Bengal.  New areas need to be explored to find the occurrence of this subspecies in India.  Records of food plants and description of habitats of the subspecies will be important to understand its ecology.

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

Betrem, J.G. (1928). Monographie der Indo- Australischen Scoliiden mit zoogeographischen Betrachtugen. Treubia 9(suppl.): 1–388, 5 plates.

Bhattacharjee, S., S. Saha & D. Raychaudhuri (2010). Scoliid wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea) of Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, West Bengal, India. Munis Entomology & Zoology 5(2): 661–669.

Bingham, C.T. (1897). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma, Hymenoptera I - Wasps and Bees. Taylor and Francis, London, 579+i-xxix.

Kumar, P.G. (2009a). Taxonomic notes on hairy wasps (Hymenoptera: Scoliidae) of Andhra Pradesh, India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India 109(1): 97–103.

Kumar, P.G. (2009b). New record of Megascolia (Regiscolia) azurea christiana (Betrem & Guiglia) (Hymenoptera: Scoliidae) from Mizoram, Orissa and Sikkim, India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India 109(1): 105–107.

Kumar, P.G. (2010). Checklist of Scoliidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Vespoidea) of India, Zoological Survey of India, 1–14pp http:// zsi.gov.in/zoological-survey-of India/zsidata/checklist (accessed on 26 June 2013).

Kumar, P.G. & S.I. Kazmi (2008). New record of Megacampsomeris prismatica (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Scoliidae) from Delhi and Nagaland, India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India 108(1): 101–103.

Kumar, P.G. & S.I. Kazmi (2012). Insecta: Hymenoptera: Scoliidae. Fauna of Maharashtra, State Fauna Series, Zoological Survey of India 20(2): 619–625.

Gupta, S.K. (2007). Insecta: Hymenoptera: Aculeata, pp. 35–39. In: Faunal diversity of Western Doon Shiwaliks. Special Publication, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India.

Gupta, S.K. & J.K. Jonathan (2003). Fauna of India and The Adjacent Countries, Hymenoptera: Scoliidae. Zoological Survey of Kolkata, India, 277pp.

Jonathan, J.K. & S.K. Gupta (1999a). Scoliidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera). Zoological Survey of India, Fauna of West Bengal, State Fauna Series 3: 185–210.

Jonathan, J.K. & S.K. Gupta (1999b). Scoliidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera). Zoological Survey of India, Fauna of Meghalaya, State Fauna Series 4(7): 223–249.

Jonathan, J.K. & S.K. Gupta (2003). Scoliidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera). Zoological Survey of India, Fauna of Sikkim, State Fauna Series 9(4): 393–416.

Krombein, K.V. (1978). Biosystematic studies of Ceylonese wasps, II: A monograph of the Scoliidae (Hymenoptera: Scolioidea). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 238: 1–56.