| Halictus scabiosae (Rossi, 1790) |
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Scientific name: Halictus scabiosae (Rossi, 1790) Common name: French name: Halicte de la scabieuse Order: Hymenoptera Family: Halictidae Wingspan : 10-15 mm. Biotope: Places with flowers, mainly with Thistles and Scabious. These wasps nest in small colonies in the soil, on sunny slopes or sunny tracks. Geographic area: Europe, north to Belgium, North Africa. Observation period : Mated females over winter and appear in April-May. You can observe the brood of the year from July to October. The males die in autumn. |
The wasps of the Halictidae family are short-tongued wasps and you can tell them apart with the venation on the fore wings. There are three submarginal cells and the basal vein is curved (it is straight on Andrenidae). Halictus scabiosae is part of the group of the largest species of the family. The abdomen is black and shows an apical ochre felt-like stripe on each tergite with a basal stripe of pale hairs. Females show a hairless longitudinal groove on the upper side of the last tergite. Males have longer and uniformly coloured antennae. The tip is curved. The abdomen is longer and slenderer with single and more whitish stripes on each tergite. The legs are yellow. These wasps sometimes live in primitive colonies for nesting where several females may share one single nest under the control of one main female. Some of the wasps of the current brood act as workers to fetch pollen. |
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This picture does not permit to see the venation of the fore wings, nor the presence of a longitudinal groove on the upper side of the last tergite. So let's say that this is not a good start to tell the species apart. I have asked to an expert who indicated to me female Halictus scabiosae probable. I am not totally convinced because of the small size (estimated to 10mm, but this can be misleading with only one picture) and because of the lack of a clear basal stripe on the tergites. We can distinguish some stripes of pale hairs on the last tergites but it seems to me that they join the apical stripes on the upper side of the tergites. So I have listed this one as Halictus sp.. |
André Bon April 2013