1975] 
Gvcynne and Evans — Larropsis 
279 
Observation D. — At 0900 on 30 June a Larropsis chilopsidis 
female, followed by a satellite fly, was observed digging for about 
30 seconds before entering a burrow. The fly perched on a small 
twig, about 3 cm from the burrow mouth, as the wasp entered. The 
fly then flew to the burrow mouth but soon returned to her perch; 
she continued to show interest in the hole and several times moved 
between it and various perches. This alternated with bouts of flying 
in 0.5 m circles around the burrow. At one point the perched fly 
oriented to a passing harvester ant, Pogowomyrmex sp., which was 
about the same size and color as female L. chilopsidis. At 0912 the 
fly was still present but seemed to show less interest in the burrow, 
and by 0930 it had left the area. 
At 1000 the wasp had not emerged from the burrow so the mouth 
was covered with an insect net. Upon returning to the area at 1400 
we found the dead wasp in the net, evidently a victim of the intense 
afternoon heat. The nest, which was located on level ground about 
0.5 m from a large shrub, was excavated that afternoon, but the 
filled burrow was impossible to trace. Cell and prey were located 
31 cm from the burrow entrance. The female camel cricket prey, 
which had an egg attached, was apparently just recovering from 
paralysis, as it was able to walk slowly. 
Egg and Larva. — The egg of L. chilopsidis is 2.0-2. 2 mm long 
and about 0.4 mm wide (N=3). It is laid transversely between the 
front and middle coxae of the prey, with one end pressed against 
one of the front coxal cavities (Fig. 1). This is exactly the same 
egg position described for Ancistromma distincta (Evans, 1958a). 
In two observations (C and D) the prey seemed to recover from 
paralysis about 6-8 hours after being stung. The egg from observa- 
tion C hatched in 44 hours, which is comparable to the 2 days 
reported for A. distincta by Evans. The larva, however, died soon 
after hatching. The egg from interaction B failed to hatch. As 
mentioned above, a satellite fly had been observed landing on the 
prey in this instance. In the cell a single fly larva was observed 
immediately behind the wasp egg; it was 1 mm in length and posi- 
tioned at one end of the egg, between it and the right middle coxa 
of the prey (Fig. 1). By 6.5 hrs after the egg was laid it had 
been completely consumed by the fly larva. Sixteen hours later the 
larva had entered the body of the cricket, which was dead. By the 
morning of 4 July (6 days after the egg had been laid) the maggot 
pupated, leaving only the legs, head, and end of the cricket abdomen 
unconsumed. The puparium was brick red in color and measured 
2X5 mm. 
