Sphictostethus striatulus Roig-Alsina, 1985

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 : 8

Sphictostethus striatulus Roig-Alsina

CHILE: Araucanía Region, Cautín Province, Pucón, Huerguehue National Park; 25 February 2021; G. Andrés. Host: Unidentified species ( Anyphaenidae ), adult or subadult female. The first photograph shows the wasp standing over the paralyzed ghost spider as it laid on the ground, ventral side upward, grasping its left forecoxa with her mandibles. The second photograph shows S. striatulus pulling the spider in the opposite direction of an S. xanthopus , grasping its right forepatella or forefemur with her mandibles, while S. xanthopus (Spinola) grasps the trochanter of the third left leg with her mandibles. The third photograph shows the two wasps grappling atop the spider while it laid, ventral side upward, on the ground with S. xanthopus attempting to sting S. striatulus and bite it with her mandibles. The S. striatulus is grasping the patella of the spider’s second right leg ( Andrés 2021).

CHILE: Santiago Metropolitan Region, 12 km W of Paine, Altos de Cantillana Reserve; 23 September 2012; B. Segura. Host:? Grammostola sp. (Theraphosidae) , juvenile. The wasp dragged the paralyzed tarantula backwards on the ground, dorsal side upward, grasping the base of its right foreleg with her mandibles. An accompanying video of the same event shows the wasp searching for and finding the paralyzed tarantula as it laid on its left side on the ground, then grasping the base of its right foreleg with her mandibles and dragging it backwards on the ground ( Fig. 13 ; Segura 2012; Segura, Santiago, Chile, 2021 pers. comm.).

Figures

Figures 9–16. Pompilid wasps and host spiders. 9) Pepsis martini Vardy, female, with immobilized Diplura nigra (F. O. Pickard- Cambridge) (Dipluridae), adult or subadult female, Cristalino Lodge, Alto Floresta, Mato Grosso State, Brazil. Photograph © Sidnei Dantas. 10) Pepsis plutus Erichson, female, with immobilized Phoneutria fera Perty (Ctenidae), adult or subadult female, Saül, French Guiana. Photograph © Wouter Knaepen. 11) Priocnessus hurdi Dreisbach, female, with immobilized Euagrus?mexicanus (Ausserer) (Euagridae), adult or subadult female, Jantetelco, Morelas State, Mexico.Photograph © Paula Montserrat Crespo Barrera. 12) Priocnemella hexagona (Fox), female, with immobilized Phoneutria?fera Perty (Ctenidae), juvenile, National Forest of Jamari, Rondônia State, Brazil.Photograph © Pedro Paulo Machado Nascimento.13) Sphictostethus striatulus Roig-Alsina, female, with immobilized?Grammostola sp. (Theraphosidae), juvenile, Altos de Cantillana Reserve, 12 km W Paine, Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile. Photograph © Bernardo Segura. 14) Herbstellus pachylopus (Kohl), female, with immobilized Lycinus sp. (Nemesiidae), adult or subadult female, La Serena, Elqui Province, Coquimbo Region, Chile. Photograph © Simon Torres.15) Caliadurgus maculatellus (Taschenberg), female, with immobilized Larinia sp. (Araneidae), adult or subadult female, Punilla, Córdoba Province, Argentina. Photograph © Andrea A. Coccuci.16) Entypus magnus (Cresson), female, with immobilized Tigrosa georgicola (Walckenaer) (Lycosidae), adult or subadult female, Princeton, Collin County, Texas, USA. Photograph © Manda Bell.