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The Noble Scoliid Wasp, Scolia nobilitata, is a small, stout scoliid wasp measuring 10 to 15 mm long. It has dark wings, reddish legs, and a black to dark mahogany abdomen that usually carries 4 to 6 light yellow to orange spots arranged in pairs. The markings vary across its three subspecies. The eastern Scolia nobilitata nobilitata has very smoky wings and paired spots only on the second and third abdominal segments, sometimes with red markings. The western S. n. otomita has lighter wings and much of the third through sixth segments yellow, while S. n. tricincta has lighter wings and yellow spots on at least the second through fourth segments, often joined into a band on the fourth. The sexes look alike except that males have longer antennae. A similar eastern wasp, Pygodasis quadrimaculata, is much larger and has black legs instead of red.
This native wasp ranges across the southern United States, from Massachusetts to Florida and west to Colorado, Texas, and Arizona, and it has also been recorded in Ontario. The subspecies nobilitata covers most of that range, from Massachusetts to Florida and west to Colorado and Texas, while otomita is found in Arizona, California, and Nevada, and tricincta in Arizona, Colorado, western Kansas, New Mexico, and western Texas. It favors sandy meadows and other open habitats.
Adults are active by day in summer, flying from June to September in North Carolina. They are frequent flower visitors that feed on nectar and pollen at mountain mint, brown-eyed Susan, button eryngo, plains blackfoot, Spanish needles, and many other blooms. In a survey of buckwheat fields in north central Florida, the Noble Scoliid Wasp was the most common flower visitor after the honey bee, with 948 recorded visits. The flower longhorn beetle Typocerus lunulatus may be a mimic of this wasp.
Scolia nobilitata undergoes complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult), and its larvae develop on the grubs of scarab beetles in the soil. As in other scoliid wasps, the female digs down to a grub, often using the grub’s own burrow, and stings it into permanent paralysis. She then lays an egg on it, or first moves the grub deeper and hollows out a small chamber around it. The wasp larva feeds on the outside of the paralyzed grub for about one to two weeks, then spins a cocoon underground, where it is thought to pass the winter as a mature larva before pupating and emerging as an adult the next summer.
The Noble Scoliid Wasp is beneficial. Its larvae kill white grubs, the soil-dwelling larvae of scarab beetles, a group that includes serious pests of lawns, pastures, and crops. Adults are abundant flower visitors and likely pollinators of wildflowers and of crops such as buckwheat, and researchers have suggested that buckwheat cover crops could attract beneficial wasps like this one to boost natural pest control on farms. It is not a pest.
This preserved specimen educates on scoliid wasp diversity and natural control of white grubs, suitable for displays or studies. Check it out on BugGuide! https://bugguide.net/node/view/26760
The Noble Scoliid Wasp, Scolia nobilitata, is a small, stout scoliid wasp measuring 10 to 15 mm long. It has dark wings, reddish legs, and a black to dark mahogany abdomen that usually carries 4 to 6 light yellow to orange spots arranged in pairs. The markings vary across its three subspecies. The eastern Scolia nobilitata nobilitata has very smoky wings and paired spots only on the second and third abdominal segments, sometimes with red markings. The western S. n. otomita has lighter wings and much of the third through sixth segments yellow, while S. n. tricincta has lighter wings and yellow spots on at least the second through fourth segments, often joined into a band on the fourth. The sexes look alike except that males have longer antennae. A similar eastern wasp, Pygodasis quadrimaculata, is much larger and has black legs instead of red.
This native wasp ranges across the southern United States, from Massachusetts to Florida and west to Colorado, Texas, and Arizona, and it has also been recorded in Ontario. The subspecies nobilitata covers most of that range, from Massachusetts to Florida and west to Colorado and Texas, while otomita is found in Arizona, California, and Nevada, and tricincta in Arizona, Colorado, western Kansas, New Mexico, and western Texas. It favors sandy meadows and other open habitats.
Adults are active by day in summer, flying from June to September in North Carolina. They are frequent flower visitors that feed on nectar and pollen at mountain mint, brown-eyed Susan, button eryngo, plains blackfoot, Spanish needles, and many other blooms. In a survey of buckwheat fields in north central Florida, the Noble Scoliid Wasp was the most common flower visitor after the honey bee, with 948 recorded visits. The flower longhorn beetle Typocerus lunulatus may be a mimic of this wasp.
Scolia nobilitata undergoes complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult), and its larvae develop on the grubs of scarab beetles in the soil. As in other scoliid wasps, the female digs down to a grub, often using the grub’s own burrow, and stings it into permanent paralysis. She then lays an egg on it, or first moves the grub deeper and hollows out a small chamber around it. The wasp larva feeds on the outside of the paralyzed grub for about one to two weeks, then spins a cocoon underground, where it is thought to pass the winter as a mature larva before pupating and emerging as an adult the next summer.
The Noble Scoliid Wasp is beneficial. Its larvae kill white grubs, the soil-dwelling larvae of scarab beetles, a group that includes serious pests of lawns, pastures, and crops. Adults are abundant flower visitors and likely pollinators of wildflowers and of crops such as buckwheat, and researchers have suggested that buckwheat cover crops could attract beneficial wasps like this one to boost natural pest control on farms. It is not a pest.
This preserved specimen educates on scoliid wasp diversity and natural control of white grubs, suitable for displays or studies. Check it out on BugGuide! https://bugguide.net/node/view/26760
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