Ageniella (Alasagenia) flavipennis (Banks)

Kurczewski, Frank E., West, Rick C., Waichert, Cecilia & Pitts, James P., 2022, Additional new and unusual host records for Western Hemisphere spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), Insecta Mundi 2022 (928), pp. 1-32 : 12

Ageniella (Alasagenia) flavipennis (Banks)

BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro State, Rio de Janeiro, Tijuca National Park , Visitor’s Center ; 18 January 2021; R. Dias. Host: Unidentified species ( Ctenidae ), adult or subadult female. The wasp straddled the recently captured, paralyzed wandering spider, examined it with her antennae as it laid dorsal side upward on the ground, and turned it onto its left side. She then detached the spider’s right legs at the trochanter-coxa joints using her mandibles. She also amputated the spider’s left legs at the trochanter-coxa joints. The wasp then ran across the ground, holding the delimbed host spider dorsal side upward while grasping the base of its chelicera with her mandibles. She stopped and paused, remaining atop her immobilized spider, on a green cement walkway ( Dias 2021a).

BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro State, Rio de Janeiro, Tijuca National Park , Visitor’s Center ; 18 January 2021; R. Dias. Host: Unidentified species ( Ctenidae ), adult or subadult female. The wasp ran up a vertical cement wall carrying an immobilized delimbed wandering spider, dorsal side upward, while grasping the base its chelicera with her mandibles. At the top she ran along the ledge to the end, then turned around and ran in the opposite direction to a tree growing against the wall. Without hesitating, the wasp with spider underneath continued running up the tree and out of sight ( Dias 2021b).

BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro State, Rio de Janeiro, Alto da Boa Vista ; 8 October 2017; 1119; R. Dias. Host:? Ctenus sp. , adult or subadult female. The wasp examined the paralyzed wandering spider with her mouthparts and antennae as it laid dorsal side upward on the ground. She then grasped its right chelicera with her mandibles and attempted to pull it backwards across the ground. All of the spider’s legs were intact ( Dias 2021c). A subsequent very short video shows the spider with some of its legs amputated at the coxa-trochanter joints and lying on the ground ( Dias 2019; Dias , Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , 2021 pers. comm) .