Epipompilus aztecus (Cresson)

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 : 10

Epipompilus aztecus (Cresson)

MEXICO: México State, Ixtapan de la Sal; 20 November 2020; A. Gómez Benítez. Host: Ariadna pilifera O. P.-Cambridge ( Segestriidae ), adult or subadult female. The wasp pulled the immobilized tube-dwelling spider backwards, dorsal side upward, across the ground for 60 cm, grasping its loose posterior abdominal cuticle with her mandibles ( Fig. 1 ; Gómez Benítez 2020; Gómez Benítez 2020 pers. comm.).

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.