Scolia hirta (Schrank, 1781)
Family: Scoliidae. – Mammoth Wasps
Length: 10 to 25mm.
The Flying Adults can be seen in the warm summer months from July to September, a widespread species in Central Europe and countries bordering onto the Mediterranean Sea including North African countries.
Habitat: open grasslands, side of roads and pathways, often seen feeding on various flowers.
Male Scolia wasps have a longer antenna, than female Scolia wasps.
Mammoth Wasp is an intimidating – looking insect, but despite its black and yellow ‘warning’ colours, it is not any more dangerous to people as most other wasps.
Scolia hirta are solitary wasps and feed on nectar and pollen taken from a variety of seasonal wild-plants, one of the main plants available at this time of year in the Alicante region, is Eryngium campestre (Wild Flower Thistle, (Apiaceae)) This plant is very popular for many types of insects and arachnids (spiders) for food as well as catching prey, by using stealth tactics.
The adult Wasp feeds her young, the larvae of various species of Beetles. (The species mainly being: Scarabaeidae, Cetonia aurata and the Cetoniidae beetle species.) The female wasp, will dig into the earth, searching for the larva; once found, she will then parasitise the larvae just before she injects her egg, into them. This gives her larvae a fresh food supply from birth.