First record of Epipompilus excelsus (Bradley, 1944) (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae) as a koinobiont ectoparasitoid of Ariadna mollis (Holmberg, 1876) (Araneae, Segestriidae)

By

Villanueva, German
Brescovit, Antonio D.
Santos, Eduardo Fernando dos
Vasconcellos-Neto, João

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2018

Original Publication

Journal of Hymenoptera research

Volume

66

Pages

15-21

Subjects

Egg-wasp development , Neotropical , parasitoid , Tube-dwelling spider

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Washington, D.C International Society of Hymenopterists

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.66.28915

 

Abstract

EpipompilusKohl comprises 52 species of wasps that are parasitoids of spiders; 16 species occur in the Neotropical region and 36 species occur in the Australian region. The biological knowledge of this genus is limited and its interactions and host spiders are still incipient. Here, we report some behavioural and biological characteristics ofE.excelsus, a parasitoid of the tube-dwelling spiderAriadnamollis. We observed anE.excelsusfemale attacking an adult female ofA.mollisin São Paulo, Brazil. We photographed daily the larval development of the wasp, from the egg stage to adult emergence. The entire developmental cycle of the wasp took 24 days. This period was shorter than the developmental periods of wasps belonging to other genera of Pompilidae. Although all species within Pompilidae use spiders as host, they present great behavioural diversity, characterized by different ethological sequences. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the Neotropical species ofEpipompilusexhibit biological characteristics similar to the Australian species, acting as a koinobiont ectoparasitoid, but displays differences in larval morphology. Studies on other species could elucidate the extent of these differences and similarities, contributing to our understanding of the evolutionary history ofEpipompilus, and consequently of Pompilidae.