Taking care of the enemy: egg predation by the Darwin wasp Tromatobia sp. (Ichneumonidae) on the cobweb spider Chrysso compressa (Araneae, Theridiidae)

By

Souza-Santiago, Brenda
Messas, Yuri F.
Pádua, Diego Galvão de
Santos, Adalberto
Vasconcellos-Neto, João

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023

Original Publication

Journal of Hymenoptera research

Volume

95

Pages

103--112

Subjects

egg sac , Maternal care , Pimplinae , Serra do Japi

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Washington, D.C International Society of Hymenopterists

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.95.97029

 

Abstract

Some wasp species use spiders as food resources, overcoming several anti-predator barriers that are exerted by spiders. Tromatobia ichneumonid wasps are spider egg predators that usually attack Araneidae species, although there are few records of predation on Clubionidae, Philodromidae, Linyphiidae, Tetragnathidae, and Theridiidae spiders. Here, we describe the interaction between Tromatobia sp. and Chrysso compressa, a subsocial theridiid spider that exhibits extended maternal care, in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil. We observed that the larva of Tromatobia sp. develop inside the egg sacs of C. compressa, preying on the entire egg mass and building cocoons that change the color and morphology of the egg sacs. Despite these structural modifications, we registered an adult female of C. compressa guarding and caring for the cocoons (attacked egg sac) of the predators as if they were offspring (non-attacked egg sac). To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first record of Tromatobia preying on Chrysso eggs.