Pepsis heros (Fabricius)

Kurczewski, Frank E., West, Rick C., Waichert, Cecilia, Kissane, Kelly C., Ubick, Darrell & Pitts, James P., 2020, New and unusual host records for North American and South American spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), Zootaxa 4891 (1), pp. 1-112 : 10

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4891.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6B0E1135-8C4E-4341-9793-AB970FBCD10B
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4344708
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6D0C7764-FFBA-FF89-07AA-FCA7FA2DFB02
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Pepsis heros (Fabricius)
status

Treatment

Pepsis heros (Fabricius) View in CoL

FRENCH GUIANA: Montsinéry -Tonnegrande Commune, Bagne de Annamites; 10 June 2018; A Canziani. Host: Theraphosa blondi (Latreille) (Goliath birdeater tarantula) ( Theraphosidae ), adult or subadult female. A series of photographs shows the wasp pulling the paralyzed tarantula backwards on the ground, dorsal side upward, grasping the base of its right pedipalp with her mandibles ( Canziani 2018; A. Canziani, Cayenne, French Guiana, 2020 pers. comm.).

VENEZUELA: Amazonas State, near Gavilan; October 1992. Host: Theraphosa apophysis (Tinter) (Goliath pinkfoot tarantula) ( Theraphosidae ), adult female. The wasp approached the tarantula on the ground, near its burrow, turned onto her [her being the female wasp] back, and tried to sting the tarantula in the underside of its cephalothorax. However, the tarantula bit the wasp before it could be stung causing the wasp to walk away injured ( R. C. West, 2020 pers. obs.). Such behavior is a rarity among spider wasps (F. E. Kurczewski, 2020 pers. obs.).