Euparagia scutellaris, Cresson, 1879

Carpenter, James M. & Kimsey, Lynn S., 2009, The Genus Euparagia Cresson (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Euparagiinae), American Museum Novitates 3643, pp. 1-11 : 8

scutellaris Cresson

Euparagia scutellaris Cresson, 1879 : vi, female, male - ‘‘Nevada’’ (lectotype female Philadelphia); 1887: 287 (CA). - Dalla Torre, 1894: 2 (cat.); 1904: 4 (cat.). - Cresson, 1916: 105 (designation of lectotype). - Bradley, 1922: 384 (maculifrons [!]), 385. - Williams, 1927: 38–39 (nest and prey). - Bohart, 1938: 137 (key), 138 (CA); 1948: 149 (key), 154 (CA); 1951: 883 (cat.). - Richards, 1962: 51. - Clement and Grissell, 1968: 34–37 (nest and prey). - Torchio, 1970: 24–25, figs. 30–33 (larva). - Moore, 1975: 286 (oviposition, sleeping behavior). - Krombein, 1979: 1470 (cat.). - Carpenter, 1981: 33 (species examined). - Johnson, 1985: 261 (ID). - Trostle and Torchio, 1986: 641–647 (nest, prey, oviposition, larval development). - Bohart, 1989: 462 (key), 465, fig. 7 (widespread in nondesert localities of Pacific Coast states).

DISTRIBUTION: U.S.A.: CA, NV, ID, UT; Mexico: Baja California.

The record for Mexico is new, based on specimens in the collection of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

This is the only species of Euparagiinae for which the nest has been described. It makes shallow burrows in the ground, topped with curved turrets, and the burrows end in one or more cells provisioned with weevil larvae ( Williams, 1927; Clement and Grissell, 1968; Torchio, 1970; Moore, 1975; Trostle and Torchio, 1986). Clement and Grisell (1968) stated that oviposition occurred after provisioning, but Moore (1975) and Trostle and Torchio (1986) showed that this was incorrect, and that E. scutellaris oviposits before provisioning, as in all other Vespidae .