%0 Journal Article
%T Nesting Biology of Odynerus albopictus calcaratus (Morawitz, 1885) and Odynerus femoratus de Saussure, 1856 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae)
%A Alexander V. Fateryga
%J Journal of Insects
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/597583
%X The nesting biology of Odynerus albopictus calcaratus and Odynerus femoratus was studied in the Crimea (south of Ukraine); 46 nests of O. a. calcaratus and 18 nests of O. femoratus were examined. Both species nest on horizontal ground surfaces. The nests are vertical burrows surmounted by turrets. Females use water during nest construction and retrieve mud pellets from the nest burrow; these pellets are of two distinct sizes: small ones are used for the turret construction and big ones are dropped away. Females hunt for larvae of curculionid beetles of the genus Hypera. Completed nests are sealed with demolished turrets and nest burrows are usually entirely filled with mud. The nests of O. a. calcaratus contain 1-2 cells; the nests of O. femoratus contain 1¨C10 cells. The turrets of O. a. calcaratus are curved, and opened sideward; the turrets of O. femoratus are straight, and opened upward. The nesting success is 83% in O. a. calcaratus and 55% in O. femoratus. Most of the wasps died due to abiotic factors (e.g., rain). The nest structures of the species in the genus Odynerus studied so far are compared, and the function of the nest turret is discussed. 1. Introduction The genus Odynerus includes 45 species distributed mainly in the Palearctic region; only three Ethiopian species and four Nearctic ones are known [1¨C3]. The genus includes four subgenera, alphabetically: Allogymnomerus Bl¨¹thgen, 1951, Monoplomerus Bl¨¹thgen, 1941, Odynerus s. str., and Spinicoxa Bl¨¹thgen, 1938; the latter two are the most numerous and widespread [1, 4]. Only Odynerus s. str. is distributed in all three regions while the other subgenera are strictly Palearctic. Wasps of the genus Odynerus are well-known ground nesting eumenines. R¨¦aumur¡¯s (1742) classic account on the nesting habits of Odynerus (s. str.) spinipes (Linnaeus, 1758) seems to be the earliest description of the biology of any Eumeninae [5]. The nests of Odynerus (Spinicoxa) reniformis (Gmelin, 1790) were described a century later by Fabre [6]. However, the majority of species in the genus has not been studied. Nevertheless, the nests of at least 10 species have been described for the present moment. Completed observations on the nesting substrate, nest construction, prey, parasites, and associates, as well as behavior of adults, are known for O. spinipes [7¨C11], O. reniformis [7, 9, 10, 12, 13], Odynerus (s. str.) dilectus de Saussure, 1870 [14, 15], and particularly for Odynerus (s. str.) melanocephalus (Gmelin, 1790) [7, 12]. Description of the nesting of Odynerus (Spinicoxa) eburneofasciatus Dusmet, 1903,
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/insects/2013/597583/