Poecilopompilus decedens (Smith)

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 : 13

Poecilopompilus decedens (Smith)

BRAZIL: Goiás State, Goiânia; 23 April 2009; E. Neri. Host: Misumenops sp. (Thomisidae) , adult or subadult female. Three photographs show the wasp (1) atop the immobilized crab spider, venter to venter, as it hung in midair by a silken thread from a spinneret; the wasp grasped the base of the spider’s chelicera with her mandibles; (2) atop the spider grasping the base of its second right leg as the prey laid on its left side on a leaf near ground level; and (3) maintaining the same grasp on the ground atop the spider in a ventral side upward position ( Neri 2009).

BRAZIL: São Paulo State, Jacareí; 20 April 2011; T. Nascimento de Melo. Host: Misumena sp. (Thomisidae) , adult or subadult female. The wasp stood above and beside the paralyzed crab spider as it laid on grass, dorsal side upward ( Fig. 2 ; Nascimento de Melo 2011). This host record was listed under Poecilopompilus sp. in Kurczewski et al. (2020b).

Figures

Figures 1–8. Pompilid wasps and host spiders. 1) Epipompilus aztecus (Cresson), female, with immobilized Ariadna pilifera O. P.- Cambridge (Segestriidae), adult or subadult female, Ixtapan de la Sal, México State, Mexico. Photograph © Aldo Gómez Benitez. 2) Poecilopompilus decedens (Smith), female, with immobilized Misumena sp. (Thomisidae), adult or subadult female, Jacareí, São Paulo State, Brazil. Photograph © Tomaz Nascimento de Melo. 3) Ageniella (Priophanes) basirufa (Fox), female, with immobilized unidentified theridiid (Theridiidae), adult or subadult female, São Simão, São Paulo State, Brazil. Photograph © José Rubens Lopes. 4) Entypus unifasciatus urichi (Banks), female, with immobilized Phoneutria boliviensis (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge) (Ctenidae), adult or subadult female, Santa Rosa, Bolivar Department, Colombia. Photograph © Jim Steamer. 5) Priocnessus sericeus Dreisbach, female, with immobilized Ctenus sp. (Ctenidae), adult or subadult female, Tena, Cundinamarca Department, Colombia. Photograph © Jorge Nicolás Rozo Pinilla. 6) Poecilopompilus interruptus dubitatus (Cameron), female, with immobilized Misumessus quinteroi (Edwards) (Thomisidae), adult or subadult female, Tilarán, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. Photograph © Ana Pereira.7) Poecilopompilus sp., female, with immobilized Araneus workmani (Keyserling) (Araneidae), adult female, Reserva Ecolólogia Costanera Sur, Puerto Madero, Ciudad de Buenos Aires State, Argentina. Photograph © Milena Llopis. 8) Tachypompilus ferrugineus affinis (Banks), female, with immobilized Enoploctenus maculipes Strand (Ctenidae), adult male, Visitor’s Center, Tijuca National Park, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Photograph © Roger Dias.