Cryptocheilus severini Banks, 1926

Kurczewski, Frank E., West, Rick C., Pitts, James P. & Waichert, Cecilia, 2022, First host record for the spider wasp Cryptocheilus severini Banks (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pepsinae), Insecta Mundi 2022 (935), pp. 1-4 : 2

Cryptocheilus severini Banks

Locality. México. Sinaloa State, Mazatlán, Paco’s Reserva Natural de Flora y Fauna ; 26 March 2022, 1208 HST; Francisco Farriols Sarabia, photographer.

Host.? Tigrosa sp. (Lycosidae) [det. D. Barrales], adult or subadult female. Five photographs show the wasp and immobilized spider on leaf litter. In these photographs the spider lies, dorsal side upward, with its legs spread outward. One photograph shows the wasp examining the spider with her apical antennal segments ( Fig. 1 ). Another photograph shows the wasp grasping the base of the spider’s left pedipalp with her mandibles prior to backward prey transport.

Figures

Figure 1. Cryptocheilus severini female examining a lycosid spider with her apical antenna segments as the immobilized spider lies dorsal side upward on leaf litter. Photograph © Francisco Farriols Sarabia.