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The family Vespidae is represented in India by four subfamilies: Vespinae, Polistinae, Stenogastrinae, and Eumeninae. The subfamily Eumeninae is the most species rich among the Vespidae. The potter wasps of south India are reviewed for the first time to comprise 31 valid genera. The genera Discoelius Latreille, 1809, Coeleumenes van der Vecht, 1963, Euodynerus Dalla torre, 1904, and Pseudonortonia Giordani Soika, 1936 are newly reported from south India. Diagnoses and a key to south Indian eumenine genera are given. A total of 72 species and subspecies are listed, 15 of them are newly reported from Karnataka and two species from Kerala.

This study presents a checklist of the vespid wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) of India. A total of 288 species belonging to 60 genera and 5 subfamilies of Vespidae are known to occur within the political boundaries of India. A complete list of species, comprising valid scientific names, synonyms, geographical distribution within and outside India, along with references, is provided. One new synonymy is proposed.

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We describe here nesting biology of Hoplonomia westwoodi, a common ground nesting solitary bee in India. A typical nest consisted of a straight main tunnel with the cells arranged horizontally at the end. Number of cells per nest ranged from 2 to 4 (x̄ = 2.67). Polypropylene bag and pot culture studies, to evaluate soil types preferred by the bees for nesting, showed that red soil + FYM (1:1) was the most preferred substrate with an average of 12.67 nests/bag. Maximum foraging activity was between 8:00 -13:00 hours. Though H. westwoodi bees were active throughout the year, higher foraging activity was observed between March to June.  The species being polylectic, foraged on flowers of several families including Myrtaceae, Lamiaceae, Portulacaceae, Convolvulaceae, Lythraceae, Meliaceae, Rubiaceae, Solanaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Malvaceae. A cleptoparasite, Eupetersia sp. was observed in the nests of H. westwoodi, which is the first record of Eupetersia sp. parasitisation on the genus Hoplonomia.