Pepsis? chrysoptera Burmeister, 1872

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 : 8-10

Pepsis? chrysoptera Burmeister

BRAZIL: Rio Grande do Sul State, Rio Grande County ; 27 August 2017, 1328–1500 PM ; V. S. Domingues. Host: Unidentified species ( Pycnothelidae ) [det. R. Bertani], adult or subadult female. The wasp stung the funnel-web trapdoor spider in its ventral cephalothorax near the base of its left foreleg as it laid on its left side on the bare sand. She then dragged the immobilized trapdoor spider across the sand for 3 m, leaving an impression trail in the sand surface, grasping the base of its left hindleg with her mandibles. She released the funnel-web trapdoor spider on the sand, during transport, and examined it with her antennae ( Domingues 2023) .

Pepsis chrysoptera Burmeister (BL, 21–30 mm; Vardy 2005) captured Ctenus? medius Keyserling ( Ctenidae ) (BL, ~ 25 mm) in southeastern Brazil ( Luiz 2017; Kurczewski et al. 2020), if the wasp identification is correct ( Luiz 2017; Kurczewski et al. 2020). Based on our more recent study of P.? chrysoptera from the same region of Brazil the host spider is a funnel-web trapdoor spider in the family Pycnothelidae (Domingues 2017) , a new host family

Pepsis lampas species-group ( Vardy 2005)