First Record of Three Species of Hairy Wasps (Hymenoptera: Scoliidae) from Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

The family Scoliidae (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea) is a group of most primitive solitary aculeate wasps. They are commonly known as hairy wasps, having a wide distribution but predominantly found in tropical countries (Tüzün and Bağrıaçık, 2000) The family consists of about 560 species, 220 sub-species distributed among 43 genera, 28 sub-genera in two sub-families viz., Proscoliinae and Scoliinae (Osten, 2005). Seventy-nine species under 14 genera have been reported from India till date (Gupta and Jonathan, 2003; Schulten et al, 2011). In this paper, we studied the scoliid specimens collected from Dumna Nature Park, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. The Park is a forest area and ecotourism site located in the Jabalpur district. The park is spread in 1058 ha area and situated at an elevation of about 460 m from the mean sea level. There is no record of scoliid wasp fauna of the Dumna Nature Park till date. Material and Methods