Dielis tolteca

Dielis tolteca, the Toltec scoliid wasp, is a species of hymenopteran in the family Scoliidae. It is commonly found on plants in the genus Solidago.[1]

Toltec scoliid wasp
Female Dielis tolteca in Contra Costa County, California
Male D. tolteca in Los Angeles County, California
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Scoliidae
Genus: Dielis
Species:
D. tolteca
Binomial name
Dielis tolteca
(Sassure, 1857)
Synonyms[1][2]
  • Campsomeris tolteca (Saussure, 1857)
  • Elis tolteca Saussure, 1857

Description and identification

Female D. tolteca have extensive orange on at least three tergites of the gaster. The first segment is variable from a complete band to no band at all, and every possible degree in between. The only other orange-marked ally, D. dorsata, has the orange restricted to the second and third tergites of the gaster.[3]

Male D. tolteca have four pale yellow bands on both the tergites and sternites of the gaster and a yellow band on the pronotum. As with the females, the most similar species is D. dorsata, which has sparser setae on the external valve of the penis and lacks banding on the sternites. The males further share the paler markings with D. plumipes, a species that is sympatric in Texas and which has the clypeus and pronotum entirely black. Another ally, D. pilipes, has a fifth band on the abdomen (only shared with D. tejensis[4]) and is structurally distinct from all other members of the genus by the microstructuring on the frons, propodeum, mesonotum, and hind tibiae.[3]

Distribution

D. tolteca is mainly found in the Southwestern United States and Mexico but also occurs in Haiti.[5]

References
  1. Holm, Heather (2021). "Chapter 10 Scoliidae: Scoliid Wasps". Wasps: Their Biology, Diversity, and Role as Beneficial Insects and Pollinators of Native Plants. Minnetonka, MN: Pollination Press LLC. p. 214–229. ISBN 9780991356317.
  2. Krombein, Karl V. (1979). "Scoliidae". In Krombein, Karl V.; Hurd, Paul D. Jr.; Smith, David R.; Burks, B.D. (eds.). Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico. Vol. 2. Apocrita (Aculeata). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 1316.
  3. Bradley, James Chester (1928). "The Species of Campsomeris (Hymenoptera-Scoliidae) of the plumipes Group, Inhabiting the United States, the Greater Antilles, and the Bahama Islands". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 80: 313–337. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  4. Szafranski, Przemyslaw (2023). "New Dielis species and structural dichotomy of the mitochondrial cox2 gene in Scoliidae wasps". Scientific Reports. 13 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-27806-x. PMC 9895450.
  5. Ramírez-Guillén, Luis Damián; Falcon-Brindis, Armando; Gómez, Benigno (2022). "The Scoliidae wasps (Hymenoptera: Scolioidea) of Mexico: taxonomy and biogeography". Zootaxa. 5214 (1): 47–88. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5214.1.2.
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