Delta esuriens ( Fabricius, 1787 )

Sheikh, Altaf Hussain, Kumar, P. Girish, Thomas, Moni & Bhandari, Rita, 2017, Taxonomic studies on Vespid Wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea: Vespidae) of Dumna Nature Park, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 117 (3), pp. 198-198 : 198-

16. Delta esuriens ( Fabricius, 1787)

1787. Vespa esuriens Fabricius , 293. Syntype, Sex not mentioned, India ( BMNH) .

1992. Delta esuriens : Giordani Soika, 62.

Diagnosis: Female: Clypeus smooth, strongly convex, flattened in middle, its anterior margin transversely truncate at apex; frons closely and strongly punctured; propodeal dorsum strongly punctured except at dorsolateral angle with scattered punctures; pronotum with distinct pretegular carina; fore wing with prestigma 0.74x pterostigma; petiole and gaster almost smooth; T2 without lamellae separated by apical thickening.

Colour Description: Head yellow to brownish yellow with following black markings: broad band on vertex including upper half of frons extending behind vertex to outer side of temple and to occiput, black mark on anterior tentorial pit extending to subantennal suture to dorsal side of antennal scrobe and touching to black band on frons and vertex; antennae light reddish; visible part of labrum concolorous with clypeus; mandible yellow except at margins yellowish brown; pronotum almost entirely yellow except at anterior apex of anterior face of pronotum black; mesoscutum black except large brown area posteriorly; scutellum light red; postscutellum yellow, propleuron black or blackish brown; mesopleuron yellow to brownish yellow except mesepimeron brown to blackish brown and mesosternum black; metapleuron light red to reddish brown; propodeum light red except at basolateral apex near to lateral corner with yellow markings; legs light reddish with highly variable yellow markings; petiole light reddish except at base black, at subapically black band and then yellow band; second gastral tergite basally light reddish then black band and remaining apical half yellow; second gastral sternite light red except at apex with yellow band; all remaining visible part of gastral segments yellow, with their bases (when drown out) black. Wings flavohyaline with narrow subapical dark infumation on forewing.

Size (H+M+T1+T2): 14-20 mm.

Male: Last antennal article hooked apically, hook long, curved and pointed, in curved position it almost reaching to apex of ninth antennal segment; S7 with deep median longitudinal groove; apical tip of aedeagus bulb-like; parameral spine elongate with moderately large hairs subapically. Other characters almost same as in female.

Size (H+M+T1+T2): 14-17 mm.

Material examined: INDIA: Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur district, Dumna Nature Park , 4♀ & 3♂, 16.x.2015, Coll. Altaf Hussain Sheikh.

Distribution: India: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh (new record), Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal. Elsewhere: Arabia, Australia, Indonesia (Borneo, Java), Iran, Iraq, Israel, Laos, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Caledonia, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam.

Ethology: In this study we observed parasitic association of strepsipteran insect for the first time. In one male specimen of D. esuriens , a strepsipteran parasite seen as projected out from one of the tergal segments of the host wasp (Figure 21).