1988] Deyrup, Cronin, & Kurczewski — Allochares 273 
respectively. The larva is attached to the spider while consuming the 
abdomen, but transfers its hold to the web or to nearby objects 
while consuming the remainder of the spider. 
While the larva is small its host remains able to move and even 
run rapidly if seized by an appendage. Normally the spider does not 
move, but remains in the position in which it was left by the wasp. 
By the time the larva is half grown, the spider can no longer move 
and appears to be dead. A number of spiders were stung and left in 
the bottom of the cages; these spiders never resumed activity, 
though they could be stimulated to move. 
The larva is able to consume the entire spider, though it does not 
always do so, as part of the spider may fall out of the web. The 
abdomen is consumed first, then the cephalothorax and legs. The 
older larva can be seen gnawing off bits of the spider, using well- 
developed mandibles. Parts of the spider appear to be deposited in a 
liquescent mass held in the ventral curve of the body (Fig. 5B), as is 
typical of many larval Pompilidae and Sphecidae. It is possible that 
some external digestion occurs within this glob of food. 
A superficial examination of the larva shows some morphological 
divergence from the larvae of other pompilid species described by 
Evans (1959). The body is unusually smooth, lacking the prominent 
lobes and tubercles often found in other pompilids. The apex of the 
body is tapered and slightly flattened dorsoventrally, unlike any 
pompilid larvae described by Evans (1959), and may be a feature 
associated with hanging upside down by the tip of the abdomen. 
The mandibles are somewhat unusual in having a conspicuous dor- 
sal medial angle (Fig. 4), but no ventral angle. They are totally 
unlike the edentate mandibles of Homonotus (illustrated by Evans 
1959), a non-fossorial Old World genus that parasitized free-living 
spiders (Richards and Hamm 1939). 
Cocoon Construction and Emergence 
The cocoon of A. azureus (Fig. 4C) may be unique in the Order 
Hymenoptera. The entire surface of the cocoon is beset with long, 
erect hairs of uniform length. The larva begins by spinning a small 
net of silk at the posterior end of its body, using threads to attach 
this net to the surrounding web or substrate. The outer cocoon is 
then constructed as a loose net composed of loops. Each loop is a 
double strand of silk attached to the rim of the previously con- 
