Tachypompilus vulpes (Dalla Torre)

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 : 17

Tachypompilus vulpes (Dalla Torre) (det. M. Buck)

BRAZIL: Mato Grosso State, Novo Mundo, Cristalino Jungle Lodge; 8 December 2020, 1718; S. Dantas. Host: Nolavia sp. (Sparassidae) , adult female [det. C. A. Rheims, Instituto Butantan, Laboratório Especial de Coleções Zoológicas, São Paulo, Brasil]. The spider wasp and huntsman spider were both photographed in a dorsal side upward position on a shellacked piece of plywood. The wasp’s wings are raised at a ~45° angle upward and outward above the dorsum ( Dantas 2020b).

BRAZIL: Pará State, Santarém, Bosque Santa Lucia; 30 July 2014, 8 December 2017; S. W. Alexander. Host: Sadala sp. (Sparassidae) , adult or subadult female [det. C. A. Rheims 2020 pers. comm.]. Three photographs taken at different times and during different years show two wasps (1) grasping an immobilized huntsman spider by its left pedipalp, dorsal side upward, with the mandibles and, with it in tow, walking backwards; (2) grasping the paralyzed huntsman spider with the mandibles by the tibia of its third leg; and (3) standing next to different huntsman spiders after stinging and immobilizing them. Both wasps’ wings are raised at a ~45° angle upward and outward above the dorsum ( Alexander 2014, 2017).

BRAZIL: State of São Paulo, Guapiaçu; 26 November 2018; E. Matos. Host: Caayguara sp. (Sparassidae) [det. C. A. Rheims 2020 pers. comm.], adult or subadult female. The wasp pulled the paralyzed huntsman spider up a vertical wall, dorsal side upward, grasping its right chelicera with her mandibles ( Matos 2018).

BRAZIL: Sáo Paulo State, Ubatuba ; 6 January 2021, 1401; M. Mariquitto. Host: Polybetes ? rabidus (Keyserling), adult female. The spider is 1.04 X the wasp in body length. The wasp stood on a wooden plank with wings raised at a ~45° angle upward and outward above the dorsum, facing the photographer, while the immobilized huntsman spider laid nearby on the plank, dorsal side upward, with legs spread outward ( Mariquitto 2021).