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HYMENOPTERA, Pompilidae (Leach 1815) (= Psammocharidae) (Pompiloidea).-- <Images>
& <Juveniles> Please refer to the
following link for details on this group:
Pompilidae
These wasps are often called spider
wasps (in South America, species may be referred to as marabunta or marimbondo, though these names can be also applied to any very
large stinging wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with about 4,211 species in 4 subfamilies. All are solitary, and most capture and
paralyze prey, but members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are cleptoparasitoids
of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders.
Spider wasps are usually separated from other vespoid wasps in having
a transverse groove dividing the mesopleuron (the mesepisternal sclerite, a
region on the side of middle segment of the thorax above the point where the
legs join) into halves. Like other Vespoidea they have the antenna with 10
flagellomeres in the female and 11 in the male. Most Pompilidae have the
inner margin of the eye straight. The hind wings do not possess a distinct
claval lobe but they have a clear jugal lobe. The hind leg has a tibial spur
with a tuft or row of fine hairs. The legs are long and thin with the tips of
the tibia (metatibia) long enough to extend beyond the tip of the abdomen
(metasoma). Sexual dimorphism is not distinct although females are usually
larger than the males, with coloring and wing appearance varying greatly
among the many species, while black is the most common, with contrasting
aposematic markings of orange, red, yellow, or white also being fairly
common.
These insects are long-legged, solitary wasps that use a single spider
as a host for feeding their larvae. They paralyze the spider with a venomous
sting. Once paralyzed, the spider is transported to a nest. A single egg is laid on the abdomen of the
spider, and the nest or burrow is closed.
The size of the host may influence whether the wasp will lay an egg
that will develop as a male, or an egg that will develop into a female. Larger prey yield the (larger) females.
Complex adult behavior can then occur, such as spreading soil or inspecting
the area, leaving the nest site hidden. When the wasp larva hatches it begins
to feed on the still-living spider. After consuming the edible parts of the
spider, the larva spins a silk cocoon and pupates – usually emerging as
an adult the following summer. Some ceropalines lay the egg on a still-active
spider, where it feeds externally on hemolymph. After the spider dies the
mature wasp larva will pupate. References: Please refer to
<biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references may be
found at: MELVYL Library] Adlerz, G.
1905. Methoca ichneumonoides
Latr., dess lefnadssatt och utrecklingsstadier. Arkiv för Zool. 3:
1-48. Evans, H. E. 1953. Syst. Zool. 2: 155-72. Evans, H. E. 1959. Ann. Ent.
Soc. Amer. 52: 430-44. Evans, H. E. & C. Yoshimoto.
1962. Misc. Publ. Ent. Soc.
Amer. 3: 65-119. Goulet, H
& Huber, JT, ed (1993). Hymenoptera of the world: an identification
guide to families. Agriculture Canada. pp. 202–205. Pilgrim, E.M.; von Dohlen,
C.D.; Pitts, J.P. 2008:
Molecular phylogenetics of Vespoidea indicate paraphyly of the superfamily
and novel relationships of its component families and subfamilies. Zoologica scripta, 37: 539-560. Pitts, James
P.;Wasbauer MS & von Dohlen CD (2005). "Preliminary morphological analysis of relationships
between the spider wasp subfamilies (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): revisiting an
old problem". Zoologica Scripta 35 (1): 63–84. Townes, H. 1957. Bull. U.
S. Nat. Mus. 209: 1-220. |