Pepsis optima Smith, 1879

Kurczewski, Frank E., West, Rick C., Waichert, Cecilia, Kissane, Kelly C., Ubick, Darrell & Pitts, James P., 2020, New and unusual host records for North American and South American spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), Zootaxa 4891 (1), pp. 1-112 : 16

Pepsis optima Smith

COSTA RICA: Puntarenas Province, Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve; 15 February 2019; R. Moore and M. Stoffregen (Bob and Moose). Host: Megaphobema mesomelas (O. P.-Cambridge) ( Theraphosidae ) (Costa Rican redleg tarantula), adult male. The wasp dragged the paralyzed tarantula on the ground, dorsal side upward, grasping the base of its right foreleg with her mandibles ( Moore and Stoffregen 2019).

COSTA RICA: Puntarenas Province, Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve, Escondido Valley ; 13 January 2018; A. McMullan (alana.mcmullan86). Host: Megaphobema mesomelas , adult or subadult female. The wasp dragged the paralyzed tarantula backwards on the ground, dorsal side upward, grasping the base of its right foreleg with her mandibles ( McMullan 2018) .

COSTA RICA: Puntarenas Province, Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve, Selvatura Park ; 1 February 2019; C. Mora (calixtomora2702). Host: Megaphobema mesomelas , adult or subadult female. The wasp dragged the paralyzed tarantula backwards on the ground through low vegetation, dorsal side upward, grasping the base of its right pedipalp with her mandibles (Mora 2019) .

COSTA RICA: Puntarenas Province, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve; 10 September 2017; K. Martinez (@feath-er_hunters_cr). Host: Sericopelma melanotarsum Valerio , (Costa Rican pink-footed tarantula) ( Theraphosidae ), adult or subadult female. The wasp examined, and then dragged the paralyzed tarantula backwards on the ground, dorsal side upward, grasping the base of its foreleg with her mandibles (Martinez 2017).