1975] 
G wynne and Evans — Larropsis 
277 
and held on while the prey still jumped around. The wasp stung 
the prey several times, preventing further movement. After a short 
period the wasp grasped the antennae of the cricket and started to 
pull it. However, the cricket was twice the length of the wasp and 
doubtless weighed several times as much, and after a few seconds 
she stopped trying to move it and began to feed at the ventral side 
of the neck region. After 30 seconds she abandoned the prey and 
resumed her searching behavior. She did not return to the cricket, 
which after one hour was collected for identification. 
Observation B. — Another wasp was observed at 0905 on 28 
June, moving up a 20 degree slope in the dunes, straddling a para- 
lyzed cricket and holding it by the antennae, beating her wings 
rapidly to gain additional traction up the slope. After moving 0.5 m, 
she left the prey briefly and walked up the slope investigating several 
holes before she resumed dragging the prey. A satellite fly hovered 
around the wasp and prey and at one point perched briefly on the 
cricket. After dragging the prey another 0.5 m the wasp once again 
left it and moved about the sand surface for about 2 minutes. She 
returned quickly and carried the prey into an open hole. No satellite 
flies followed her to the hole. 
At 0942 the wasp was observed to reappear at the mouth of the 
burrow, digging at the sides of the hole. As she moved toward the 
surface she turned, and sand from the burrow gradually filled the 
burrow behind her. At 0943 she flew away, leaving the top 1 cm of 
the burrow unfilled. She made no attempt to use sand from the dune 
surface to fill the hole. The burrow was evidently that of a cricket, 
possibly the one she had captured. It was dug into a slope of about 
20 degrees and was steep for the first 15 cm (about 30-35 degrees 
with the surface) ; the first 11 cm was filled with sand and the next 
4 cm was open. Beyond this the burrow had been filled and was 
impossible to trace. The cell with the paralyzed cricket was located 
28 cm below the sand surface and 40 cm from the burrow entrance. 
The prey was positioned on its back and bore the Larropsis egg as 
well as a small satellite fly larva (Fig. 1). 
Observation C. — At 1735 on 28 June a wasp was seen entering 
a burrow. About 1.5 min later she emerged 15 cm from the burrow 
mouth and immediately dug herself back in. Both times she entered 
the ground she had to dig for 15-20 seconds in order to get through 
the loose surface sand. At 1915 the wasp had not emerged from the 
burrow. At 0830 on the following day we excavated the area around 
the filled burrow and found a female camel cricket 19 cm deep and 
35 cm from the burrow mouth. An egg was present on the cricket, 
which had completely recovered from paralysis. 
