Ammosphex solonus (Banks)

Kurczewski, Frank E., West, Rick C. & Waichert, Cecilia, 2024, New host records for Nearctic and Neotropical spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), Insecta Mundi 2024 (34), pp. 1-32 : 24-25

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10793331
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:853E1294-B73D-43B8-8D82-AFD2E0B00352
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/FA37986C-FF9A-F757-FF14-01999F54FD9F
treatment provided by	Felipe (2024-03-06 13:53:50, last updated 2024-03-07 11:46:47)
scientific name	Ammosphex solonus (Banks)
status

Treatment

Ammosphex solonus (Banks) View in CoL

ARIZONA: Cochise County, Miller Canyon, Huachuca Mountains, “Elevation 5,300 feet ”; 18 November 2018; C. W. Melton. Host: Unidentified species ( Lycosidae ), 12 mm (wasp, 11 mm). A series of photographs shows the wasp examining the immobilized wolf spider with her antennae as it laid dorsal side upward on the ground and dragging it backwards across the ground, dorsal side upward, grasping the patella of its left hindleg or base of second left leg with her mandibles ( Melton 2018).

COLOMBIA: Magdalena State, Santa Marta ; 18 February 2023, 1252 PM ; R. de Minca. Host: Unidentified species ( Ctenidae ), adult female. The wasp examined the wandering spider with her mouthparts as it laid ventral side upward on the ground surface. She then lapped up hemolymph from the sting puncture wound near the base of the spider’s left hind leg. She transported the spider backwards across the bare ground in a cephalothorax upright position, grasping it’s left hind coxa with her mandibles ( De Minca 2023) .

Ammosphex solonus View in CoL provisions its nests predominantly with wolf spiders ( Lycosidae View in CoL ) and, rarely, Gnaphosidae View in CoL ( Krombein 1979; Kurczewski and Edwards 2012) and Zoropsidae View in CoL [as Tengellidae ] ( Kurczewski et al. 2017). Our recent host records for this species are in accord with this host spider selection.

References

De Minca R. 2023. New World Tarantula-hawk Wasps (Genus Pepsis). Available at https: // www. inaturalist. org / observations / 151650526. (Last accessed 20 March 2023.)

Krombein KV. 1979. Family Pompilidae. p. 1523 - 1570, In: Krombein KV, Hurd PD Jr, Smith DR, and Burks BD (Eds.). Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico. Volume 2, Apocrita (Aculeata). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC: 1199 - 2209.

Kurczewski FE, Edwards GB. 2012. Hosts, nesting behavior, and ecology of some North American spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae). Southeastern Naturalist 11 (Monograph 4): 1 - 71.

Kurczewski FE, Edwards GB, Pitts JP. 2017. Hosts, nesting behavior, and ecology of some North American spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), II. Southeastern Naturalist 16 (Monograph 9): 1 - 82.

Melton CW. 2018. Spider Wasp with paralyzed spider - Female. Available at https: // bugguide. net / node / view / 1613879 / bg image. (Last accessed 18 November 2022.)