The Scelifron wasp
There are several species of this wasp genus found all over the world epically in tropical, sub tropical and desert ecosystem. The particular wasp that I observed is of metallic green to blue in color with a very thin outwardly protruding first abdominal segment. The thorax is well built and all the three thorasic segments fused well to form a rounded and upwardly bulging thorax. This wasp also has a powerful sting, which can give multiple stings to its victim. (The sting of a honeybee has barbs which hook on to its victim and detach. But the wasp’s sting does not have barbs).
This wasp feeds on nectar produced by flowers but hunts spiders which it paralyses before laying an egg on its victim, which later incubates on the body of the spider.
Habitat: Urban areas, forests, woodlands, and Savana ecosystems.
This wasp builds its nest on socket holes or any rounded, circular hole, like in crevices of wood, concrete, stone etc.
Before building a nest the wasp takes a survey of the prospective nesting areas for 1 or 2 days after which it checks out the hole and confirms that it is big and large enough for its, victim and for the development of its eggs.
Then the wasp goes out and hunts spiders. The wasp meticulously carries each spider in its jaws back to the hole. Layer by layer, it arranges its spider victims inside the hole with an egg laid on it. It covers the hole with a paste made by mixing mud with saliva to create a paste which hardens after application. Finally it applies a white colored substance over the nest to seal off completely.
The new observation is from Bhimashankar where I observed that these wasps ware congregating in a group of 14 individuals in a jute thread tided together out side a door way.
Acknowledgements:
1. I would like to thank my friend Mr. Nachiket Kelkhar for helping me identifying Scelifron wasp for me.
2. I would also like to thank Soman Sir for helping me understand some of the habits of the wasp.
References:
1. Many of the observations for the article was retrieved from my observations and notes.
2. I also used wikepedia webs site to get many of the taxonomical information.
There are several species of this wasp genus found all over the world epically in tropical, sub tropical and desert ecosystem. The particular wasp that I observed is of metallic green to blue in color with a very thin outwardly protruding first abdominal segment. The thorax is well built and all the three thorasic segments fused well to form a rounded and upwardly bulging thorax. This wasp also has a powerful sting, which can give multiple stings to its victim. (The sting of a honeybee has barbs which hook on to its victim and detach. But the wasp’s sting does not have barbs).
This wasp feeds on nectar produced by flowers but hunts spiders which it paralyses before laying an egg on its victim, which later incubates on the body of the spider.
Habitat: Urban areas, forests, woodlands, and Savana ecosystems.
This wasp builds its nest on socket holes or any rounded, circular hole, like in crevices of wood, concrete, stone etc.
Before building a nest the wasp takes a survey of the prospective nesting areas for 1 or 2 days after which it checks out the hole and confirms that it is big and large enough for its, victim and for the development of its eggs.
Then the wasp goes out and hunts spiders. The wasp meticulously carries each spider in its jaws back to the hole. Layer by layer, it arranges its spider victims inside the hole with an egg laid on it. It covers the hole with a paste made by mixing mud with saliva to create a paste which hardens after application. Finally it applies a white colored substance over the nest to seal off completely.
The new observation is from Bhimashankar where I observed that these wasps ware congregating in a group of 14 individuals in a jute thread tided together out side a door way.
Acknowledgements:
1. I would like to thank my friend Mr. Nachiket Kelkhar for helping me identifying Scelifron wasp for me.
2. I would also like to thank Soman Sir for helping me understand some of the habits of the wasp.
References:
1. Many of the observations for the article was retrieved from my observations and notes.
2. I also used wikepedia webs site to get many of the taxonomical information.
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