Calopompilus pyrrhomelas (Walker)

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 : 3-4

Calopompilus pyrrhomelas (Walker)

CALIFORNIA: Alameda County, Oakland, Buckingham Boulevard; 14 July 2022, 1728 PDT; K. Blackwell. Host: Calisoga longitarsis (Simon) ( Nemesiidae ) [det. M. Hedin], adult or subadult female. Several photographs show the immobilized funnel-web trapdoor spider lying dorsal side upward near or slightly inside of its burrow with the wasp standing nearby. The wasp, using her mandibles and legs, enticed or extracted the spider from its retreat, grappled with and stung it, then used the spider’s burrow as a nest ( Blackwell 2022).

MEXICO: Zacatecas State, Susticacán Municipality, El Chiquihuite; 8 July 2023, 1349 CDT; M. Sykes. Host: Eucteniza? panchovillai Bond and Godwin ( Euctenizidae ), adult female. The wasp walked backwards on the ground, maintaining the immobilized spider ventral side upward, while grasping the patella of its left hindleg with her mandibles. She pulled the spider up a soil embankment holding it dorsal side upwards and sideways, released it on its right side next to its trapdoor, raised the trapdoor with her mandibles and forelegs, and entered the opening upside down. She exited from beneath the flap several seconds later, grasped and pulled the spider, ventral side upward, into its burrow by its spinnerets with her mandibles ( Fig. 1 ; Sykes 2023a, b).

Calopompilus pyrrhomelas , a common western states species, is host specific on trapdoor spiders belonging to the families Antrodiaetidae , Euctenizidae , and Nemesiidae ( Krombein 1979; Kurczewski et al. 2020, 2022b, 2023). Additional studies of this species confirm that C. pyrrhomelas uses the spider’s burrow as a nest ( Kurczewski et al. 2023).

Figures

Figures 1–6. Pompilid species with host spiders. 1) Calopompilus pyrrhomelas (Walker) with Eucteniza?panchovillai Bond and Godwin (Euctenizidae), adult female. © Miguee Sykes. 2) Pepsis cassiope Mocsáry with Ancylometes bogotensis (Keyserling) (Ctenidae), adult or subadult female. © Hilde Vandevoorde. 3) Priocnessus nuperus (Cresson) with Rabidosa punctulata (Hentz) (Lycosidae), adult or subadult female. © Rachel Miller. 4) Auplopus comparatus (Smith) with Macrinus sp. (Sparassidae). © Christian Marty. 5) Ageniella (Ageniella) cupida (Cresson) species-group with Coras sp. (Agelenidae), penultimate male. © Herschel Raney. 6)?Aridestus bergi (Holmberg) with unidentified host species (Theraphosidae, Theraphosinae), immature.© Antonino Gonçalves Medina.